How would you feel if you lost your hard-earned money in seconds to a fraud? Or your dream to seek the blessings of God, a once in a lifetime opportunity, could be shattered in a minute? Seems to be heart-wrenching, doesn’t it? What is it all about? We are talking about the repercussions of the digital age and how the journey of a dream turned into a nightmare for a large number of devotees at Mahakumbh 2025. This sinister scam has shattered many lives and digital predators behind them are still targeting many more innocent people.
Remember, how we were praising the digitization of faith and how technology is intersecting with tradition? Well, it attracted negativities too, and the Mahakumbh 2025 has become a prime target for fraudsters. A once-in-a-lifetime spiritual and religious event of such a big scale attracted and created a lucrative opportunity for those with malicious intent. They had been eyeing it since the beginning, and as devotees eagerly planned their pilgrimage, they launched their web of lies and deceits.
Let Corporate Soldiers uncover this story for you!
The Consequences of Digitization:
The digital era has made our lives easy, but it has its own set of security concerns too. If you are not careful enough, every click could lead to financial ruin and shattered dreams. But what if the information looks so legit on such portals and seems like an exact mirror of the official sites? These were the reason that most of the victims fell into these traps. There are so many stories of emotional, financial and shattered faith that are a stark reminder of the human cost of cybercrime.
How They Duped Innocent People?
Whenever we go through any site or scroll through an app, we usually pay attention to the provided images and reviews. These images grab our attention, right? When we are convinced of all this information, or when everything seems legit, we’re ready to hit that ‘buy’ button or download that app. But what if the real lifelike images and so-called heartfelt reviews are actually fake?
Scammers just got creative, since these sites are so intricately designed that they seem so genuine to people. From high-quality images to picture-perfect narratives, these sites have impeccable details of their ‘so-called amenities’. But of course, these meticulous details are a part of the scam as well and exist only in the digital realm.
The scammers behind these operations have gone to great lengths to create an illusion of legitimacy. How? To fool innocent people they even incorporated fake security certificates and customer testimonials to prove that they indeed are a legit site.
Let’s name a few of them that have looted a lot of people through their scams.
- www.kumbhcottagebooking.com
- www.mahakumbhcottagebooking.org
- www.mahakumbhtentbooking.org
- http://www.mahakumbhtentreservation.com
These sophisticated networks of fake accommodation websites made money by scamming a large number of people until of course, U.P. Police took the call. These near-perfect replicas of legitimate booking platform, have nothing but full of stolen images, fabricated reviews, and irresistible deals.
Through Social Media Platforms:
We all use Instagram these days, and it has become our new source for news and lots of other things as well. But the line that separates both the physical and digital worlds is so blurred that social media platforms have become the new battleground to filter legit information. Neither we can control the information nor can we trust random faces behind them.
Now these scammers didn’t even leave popular platforms like Facebook and Instagram, creating pages that pose as official Mahakumbh information sources. From promises of exclusive deals, insider information, and special access to events, they targeted many followers who fell into this trap of cheap deals.
The use of targeted advertising benefitted these scammers. Instagram allows you to create ads according to your targeted choice of users. This means they created ads that appear in the feeds of users who have shown interest in religious events or have searched for Mahakumbh-related information. And when people land on these pages that mimic official government websites, have navigated with fake booking systems and payment gateways.
Nope, They Didn’t Stop Here – Their Phishing Attacks
So, what are the phishing attacks? Cybercriminals used widespread email and messaging campaigns, targeting potential pilgrims with enticing offers and urgent calls to action. Now tell us when you see subject lines like ‘Last Chance for Mahakumbh Accommodation’ or ‘Exclusive VIP Access to Holy Dip’, they give an instant hook to the users.
The psyche behind these messages is simple. Play with the emotions, fear and aspirations of devotees. These scammers understand this human psyche so well. When devotees click on such attractive deals or offers, they expose themselves to malware-infested websites, or sophisticated phishing pages designed to harvest personal and financial information. This is called the phishing attack.
In some cases, these links trigger automatic downloads of malicious software that can compromise entire devices and networks.
Recent Incidents of These Scams:
There are a lot of stories that shook the faith of many devotees whose spiritual journeys have been derailed by fraud. These stories of emotional, financial and shattered faith are a stark reminder of the human cost of cybercrime.
How Mumbai Merchant Lost His Savings?
This is the story of Mr. Ramesh Gupta, a 75-year-old businessman from Mumbai and a devotee of Lord Shiva. Mr. Ramesh, with a lifetime of anticipation, had been saving for years to attend the Mahakumbh with his family. And just like any other person opting for the most convenient way of making bookings for accommodation and flights, he opted for the digital mode.
In December 2024, he came across what he thought was an official website offering an attractive package for accommodation and flight bookings. Little did Mr. Ramesh know he will lose ₹ 1 lakh in the name of the advance payment. He got to know it only weeks later that his hard-earned money had vanished into a digital scam.
The Plight of Elderly Businessman From Andheri:
In a similar type of scam, an elderly businessman from Andheri fell victim to such lucrative promise of prime accommodations in a tent city near the Sangam. For this real-looking fake tent, he paid ₹ 1 lakh for what he believed was a confirmed booking.
Look at The Devastation They Created:
The scale of these scams is unbelievable. While there are thousands of such individual stories, the actual true scale of this digital deception is best understood through numbers. Although these are the only estimations, they create a large picture of what’s going on:
| Type of Scam | Estimated Victims | Average Amount Lost | Estimated Losses in Total |
| Fake Websites | Over 5000 | 50,000 | ₹ 25 crore |
| Phishing Attacks | Over 15,000 | 30,000 | ₹ 45 crore |
| Through Social Media | Over 10,000 | 25,000 | ₹ 25 crore |
Many victims, out of shame or lack of awareness, never report their losses, suggesting the true scale of the problem could be significantly larger.
The Government’s Initiative Against The Scammers- Operation ‘Digital Purification’!
Prayagraj police didn’t sit quietly and took heed of these scammers. They launched a sweeping operation named ‘Digital Purification,’ which busted a major racket in December 2024. This operation uncovered and took down nine fake websites and the arrest of four key operators. But the way these scammers operated was far more sophisticated, with call centres and fake payment processing systems. Can you believe it?
Additionally, the government deployed a team of ‘Digital Sentinels’. These Digital Sentinels are cybersecurity experts who monitor social media platforms and the dark web for emerging threats. They identified and removed 14 social media accounts spreading misinformation about the Mahakumbh.
Let’s Look At The Preventive Measures!
U.P. Police have made a curated plan to fight these scammers and put an end to such scams. To combat all of these, authorities have taken several steps. Let’s see how!
- An awareness campaign, featuring Bollywood actor Sanjay Mishra to make people more aware of such scams.
- The official website kumbh.gov.in is the only legitimate source for bookings, and now the U.P. Police is promoting this information.
- Pimpri Chinchwad’s Cyber Crime Police Station has issued an advisory about fraudulent websites, as well the scammers.
- Active monitoring of all such social media who pose govt. Officials for the bookings and taking action against accounts spreading misinformation.
The Mahakumbh 2025 will go on till 26th Feb 2025, and people are still keeping the hope alive to witness this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. While unidentified cybercriminals are still out to seek opportunities to exploit the devotion of millions, authorities are on high alert. But we also must be vigilant like a hawk to spot the red flags. Readers, be alert and be safe, Corporate Soldiers wish you a holy dip!
