New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS): Cyber Fraudsters have now started targeting common people with fake SMS offering jobs in the name of National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The NIC received information about a fake SMS with a job offer, masquerading in the name of NIC being circulated amongst the general public. Upon receipt of information about the fake SMS, NIC Team carried out an immediate internal investigation and identified that the fake SMS was NOT sent from NIC's infrastructure, said officials.

NIC Team swiftly coordinated with telecom service providers to investigate and identified that the fake SMS had been sent through a private SMS service provider's infrastructure. Considering the fact that the fake SMS was misusing NIC's name, was a cyber incident and could also involve a potential financial fraud, NIC promptly reported the incident to CERT-In and also registered a complaint with Law enforcement agencies for identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators of this fake SMS, said officials.

In order to prevent further misuse, Cert-In immediately coordinated with the concerned intermediary for the take down of the fraudulent URL. General Public is hereby advised to be cautious of such fake SMS, and report such fraudulent SMS to incident@cert-in.org.in and https://cybercrime.gov.in, said Ministry of Communications in a statement.

While police and other enforcement agencies keep taking action against such cyber fraudsters, it has been found that they come up with newer ways to target gullible people. Recently, the Central Pension Accounting office under the Department of Expenditure noted that cyber fraudsters were calling pensioners to update their Life certificate by getting their data. It alerted pensioners to beware of fraud calls.

The NIC under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is the technology partner of the Government of India. NIC was established in 1976 with the objective to provide technology-driven solutions to Central and State Governments.