Your phone is infected with malware: hackers sending fake messages to steal your data

Hackers find some or the other ways to trick users and steal their personal details. In some instances, also money. Recently, scammers

hacked into her bank account, and stole 21 lakh. A similar instance is being reported by several users in India. Hackers are now impersonating the telecom department to steal your personal data and also money.

As per a Twitter user going by the name Roshan Kumar, he received a message stating, “Dear Customer, your device is probably infected with botnet malware. As per Govt of India's Cyber Swachhta Project, please visit http://cyberswachhtakendra.gov.in for remediation.” Well, if you have also received a similar message, just ignore it. In fact, we suggest, you should just delete it right away.

This is just another way that scammers are using to hack into your device and steal all your personal details. Notably, if the telecom department needs to alert users about certain things, it will announce them officially and not send such random/personal messages. Moreover, no one sends messages related to malware like that.

So, if you have received a similar message, do not just click on the link. In this case, do not

it is a fake link. In fact, it is also possible that clicking on the link will install malware into your device and allow scammers to hack into your account. The actual link of Cyber Swachhta Project is csk.gov.in and not what is stated in the SMS.

Responding to Kumar’s tweet, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) responded that the tweet has been forwarded to the concerned TSP/Division for necessary action. Reliance Jio also flagged the message as fake and urged users to not click on such malicious links at any given point. “This SMS appears to be a Fraud/Scam SMS. Whenever Jio sends communications to you via SMS, you will always see the sender ID will contain the word ‘Jio’. E.g. JioNet, JioHRC, JioPBL, JioFBR,” Jio responded in the same Twitter thread. “Please watch out for spam messages & scammers and please do not click the given link,” the company further noted.

So, if you have also received a similar message, here are a few things you must keep in mind:

Check the name of the sender of the message. If DoT sends such a message, the sender’s name will include keywords like DoT.

Never click on links that do not look authentic.

-Moreover, do not click on links sent by an unknown sender.

-Never forward such messages to anyone else.

-If you receive a similar message, just delete it right away.

-Before clicking on any such links, read the URL well. Do not get fooled by gov.in domain. Not all gov.in domain belongs to the government of India. So, beware.