#FactCheck - AI-Generated Image of Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Falsely Linked to Kedarnath Visit

Introduction

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ( MeitY) through its Information Security Education & Awareness ( ISEA ) came up with an advisory regarding the growing cases of e-challan fraud. Cybercriminals are exploiting the beliefs of individuals by attracting them into clicking malicious links under the impression of paying traffic fines. Cybercriminals employ sending phishing messages and impersonating official e-challan notifications as a primary method. These messages are crafted in such a way that portrays a sense of urgency, provoking individuals to click on a link for spontaneous payment. For building trust, the messages are deviously created by scammers depicting official communication, which in actuality are fake messages targeting individuals for committing online financial fraud.

Unveiling the E-Challan Scam

Scammers send a text message to your phones that closely resembles e-challan alerts. The text appears from the traffic police, informing the netizens of a traffic violation that requires a fine payment. These messages contain a link and a text message urging the recipient to settle the fine by clicking on the links to make the payment.  Scammers have started trapping innocent individuals through such fake messages. These scammers are creating and sending fake messages that look like traffic challan alert messages. However, it is a completely deceptive and fake message. Such messages contain malicious links to fake website, leading users to visit the fake website and enter their bank account details, or make the payment which ultimately leads to financial loss to victims. Cyber scammers have meticulously copied the format used by the traffic authorities however a close examination can help us spot the trap. The modus operandi of such type of scam is to get the targeted individuals to click on a malicious link for payment of traffic e-challan. Once you click on such malicious payment link to pay for the e-challan the individuals unknowingly will end up paying the cyber criminals instead of the police in a bid to discharge the traffic e-challan.

How to spot a fake E-Challan?

• Verify the Vehicle Number: Make sure that the vehicle number mentioned in the message matches your vehicle’s number. Cross-check this information with your vehicle’s number plate or the smart card ( blue book) issued by the Regional Transport Office ( RTO).
• Verify the E-challan Number: Verify the validity of the e-challan number by logging into the official traffic police website or app. Legitimate e-challans will have a corresponding record that can be cross-checked for authenticity. The challan number can be verified by logging in to the official e-challan website. It is always advisable to Visit the official government website to check if you have actually been fined.
• Inspect the Message Content: Give attention to the language inculcated in the message. Hackers' messages may contain grammatical errors or unusual phrases. For example, cybercriminals might encourage victims to visit the RTO office in person. Trying to build up confidence among the victims. Also, it is important that you do not make such payments in haste. Vehicle owners must check such messages carefully before clicking on any link.

Best Practices to Stay Safe

• Be aware of unbidden messages: Be cautious when you receive unsolicited e- challan notifications. Abstain yourself by clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown sources. 
• Always stick to legitimate or official websites: The scammers use links which look similar to the official link, and a casual glance can miss the difference. Hence it is strictly advisable to visit the official websites only. Also do note that government websites will always have the domain '.gov.in'.  The official website of Traffic Challan is https://echallan.parivahan.gov.in/ 
• Get it cross-checked through official channels: Always cross-check the authenticity of an e-challan by directly accessing official channels, such as the official traffic police website or application. 
• Connect with the RTO directly: If in doubt, independently connect with the Regional Transport Office ( RTO) using official contact details to verify the authenticity of the e-challan.  It is best not to solely rely on information received from suspicious messages. 
• Software update: Make sure that your device’s security software is up to date to protect against malware and phishing scams.

Conclusion:

Cybercriminals are exploiting the fear of traffic fines to trick individuals into clicking on malicious links and revealing their personal and financial information. These scams can lead to significant financial losses for the victims. To stay safe, it is important to be cautious of unsolicited messages, verify the authenticity of e-challans through official channels, and avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown sources. Awareness is the first line of defence in the evolving landscape of online threats. 

References:

• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/ahmedabad-residents-duped-out-of-lakhs-in-e-challan-scam-cops-arrest-jharkhand-man/articleshow/103528317.cms
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/save/new-traffic-e-challan-fraud-heres-how-to-identify-scam-messages-and-avoid-getting-duped/articleshow/104960817.cms
• https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/explained-the-new-e-challan-scam-how-we-can-escape-it-4342129

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Introduction

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Valentine’s Day celebrates the bond between people, their romantic love, and their deep relationships with others. The increasing use of digital platforms in modern relationships has created a situation where cybercriminals use this time of year to exploit human emotions for money-making schemes. The period around 14 February often sees a rise in online romance scams, phishing attacks, and fake shopping websites that specifically target people who are emotionally vulnerable and active online. People need to be aware of these scams because this awareness helps them protect their personal information and their financial resources.

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The Rise of Romance Scams

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Modern romance scams have evolved from their original form because criminals now execute their schemes through more advanced methods. Fraudsters create authentic-looking fake identities, which they use to deceive victims through dating applications, social media platforms and networking websites. The profiles use stolen images and fake job histories, together with convincing emotional stories, which help them establish trust with potential victims.

Scammers usually begin their deception after they have built an emotional connection with their targets. Once trust is established, they introduce a crisis or an opportunity that pressures the victim to act quickly. This is often presented as a problem that needs urgent help or a chance that should not be missed, such as:

• A sudden medical emergency that requires money for treatment
• Requests for travel expenses to finally come and meet in person
• Fake investment opportunities that promise quick or guaranteed returns
• Demands for customs, courier, or clearance fees to release a supposed package or gift

They make the victim give money to them and buy gift cards and handle personal banking details. The scam takes place for several weeks or months until the victim starts to show doubt about what is happening.  The psychological manipulation that occurs in romance scams causes severe harm to their victims. Victims experience two types of damage because criminals steal their money, and they suffer emotional pain, and their social standing gets damaged.

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Fake E-Commerce and “Valentine’s Deals”

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Valentine's Day marks the beginning of a shopping rush, which leads people to buy various gifts, including flowers, jewellery and customised products, as well as making reservations for events. Cybercriminals create fake websites to exploit this demand by providing fake discounts and temporary promotional offers. 

Common warning signs include:

• Newly registered domains that lack valid user reviews
• Websites that contain multiple spelling mistakes and display poor design
• Payment requests through methods that cannot be tracked
• Online platforms that lack secure payment processing systems

Consumers who make purchases on such sites face the risk of losing money while their card information is stolen for future fraudulent activities.

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Phishing in the Name of Love

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During the holiday season, phishing campaigns increase their focus on particular targets. Users may receive:

• Valentine's Day discount emails
• Messages that claim to show secret admirer intentions
• Links that lead to supposed romantic surprises
• Delivery notifications that inform about unreceived gifts

Malicious links result in credential theft, malware installation and unauthorised financial transactions. At first glance, these attacks show resemblance to authentic brands and logistics companies, which makes them hard to identify.

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Investment and Crypto Romance Fraud

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A rising type of romance scams now uses cryptocurrency and online trading platforms as their new approach. Scammers who establish trust with their victims will convince them to invest in digital assets that appear to generate high returns. The fake dashboards display excellent investment results to convince investors to commit more funds. The process stops when they block all withdrawal requests and stop all contact with the user. The combination of emotional manipulation with financial fraud shows how cybercrime develops according to technological advancements.

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Why Seasonal Scams Work

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Seasonal scams succeed because they match the predictable behaviour patterns that people exhibit during specific times of the year. During Valentine’s season:

• People experience their highest emotional vulnerability
• People shop more frequently through online platforms
• People use digital platforms at increased rates
• Users will decrease their level of scepticism while trying to establish connections with others

Cybercriminals use urgent situations together with emotional ties and social norms as their primary attack methods. The combination of psychological triggers and digital convenience creates fertile ground for deception.

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CyberPeace Recommendations for Staying Safe This Valentine’s Season

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The digital platforms provide people who search for connections with valuable opportunities to connect with others, yet users must remain careful about their online activities. People can protect themselves from online fraud by following these steps:

1. They should confirm identity details before they give away their private data.
2. They should not send money to people whom they met only through internet platforms.
3. They should verify website ownership and examine customer feedback before making online purchases.
4. They should activate multi-factor authentication for their social media accounts and financial accounts.
5. People should treat unexpected links with great care, especially those links that create a sense of urgency. 
6. The Cybercrime reporting portal www.cybercrime.gov.in with 24x7 helpline 1930 is an effective tool at the disposal of victims of cybercrimes to report their complaints.
7. In case of any cyber threat, issue or discrepancy, you can also seek assistance from the CyberPeace Helpline at +91 9570000066 or write to us at helpline@cyberpeace.net. Immediate reporting protects victims and helps to combat cybercrime.

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Conlusion

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Online safety during festive seasons requires shared responsibility among multiple parties. Digital resilience is strengthened through the combined efforts of platforms, financial institutions, regulators, and civil society organisations. The digital ecosystem becomes safer through three essential elements, which include awareness campaigns, stronger verification systems, and timely reporting mechanisms.

Valentine’s Day centres on the building of trust between people who want to connect with each other. To maintain trust in digital environments, users need to practice digital literacy skills, which should be shared by everyone. People who stay updated about cybersecurity threats can celebrate Valentine’s Day more safely, because their expressions of love remain protected from online scams.

References

• https://www.cloudsek.com/blog/valentines-day-cyber-attack-landscape-exploiting-love-through-digital-deception
• https://about.fb.com/news/2025/02/how-avoid-romance-scams-this-valentines-day/
• https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/sanfrancisco/fbi-san-francisco-warns-romance-scams-increasing-across-the-bay-area-this-valentines-day
• https://abc11.com/post/romance-scams-surge-ahead-valentines-day/18581079/
• https://www.moneycontrol.com/technology/5-common-online-scams-you-should-avoid-this-valentine-s-day-article-13820108.html

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Introduction

In an era where organisations are increasingly interdependent through global supply chains, outsourcing and digital ecosystems, third-party risk has become one of the most vital aspects of enterprise risk management. The SolarWinds hack, the MOVEit vulnerabilities and recent software vendor attacks all serve as a reminder of the necessity to enhance Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM). As cyber risks evolve and become more sophisticated and as regulatory oversight sharpens globally, 2025 is a transformative year for the development of TPRM practices. This blog explores the top trends redefining TPRM in 2025, encompassing real-time risk scoring, AI-driven due diligence, harmonisation of regulations, integration of ESG, and a shift towards continuous monitoring. All of these trends signal a larger movement towards resilience, openness and anticipatory defence in an increasingly dependent world.

Real-Time and Continuous Monitoring becomes the Norm

The old TPRM methods entailed point-in-time testing, which typically was an annual or onboarding process. By 2025, organisations are shifting towards continuous, real-time monitoring of their third-party ecosystems. Now, authentic advanced tools are making it possible for companies to take a real-time pulse of the security of their vendors by monitoring threat indicators, patching practices and digital footprint variations. This change has been further spurred by the growth in cyber supply chain attacks, where the attackers target vendors to gain access to bigger organisations. Real-time monitoring software enables the timely detection of malicious activity, equipping organisations with a faster defence response. It also guarantees dynamic risk rating instead of relying on outdated questionnaire-based scoring.

AI and Automation in Risk Assessment and Due Diligence

Manual TPRM processes aren't sustainable anymore. In 2025, AI and machine learning are reshaping the TPRM lifecycle from onboarding and risk classification to contract review and incident handling. AI technology can now analyse massive amounts of vendor documentation and automatically raise red flags on potential issues. Natural language processing (NLP) is becoming more common for automated contract intelligence, which assists in the detection of risky clauses or liability gaps or data protection obligations. In addition, automation is increasing scalability for large organisations that have hundreds or thousands of third-party relationships, eliminating human errors and compliance fatigue. However, all of this must be implemented with a strong focus on security, transparency, and ethical AI use to ensure that sensitive vendor and organisational data remains protected throughout the process.

Risk Quantification and Business Impact Mapping

Risk scoring in isolation is no longer adequate. One of the major trends for 2025 is the merging of third-party risk with business impact analysis (BIA). Organisations are using tools that associate vendors to particular business processes and assets, allowing better knowledge of how a compromise of a vendor would impact operations, customer information or financial position. This movement has resulted in increased use of risk quantification models, such as FAIR (Factor Analysis of Information Risk), which puts dollar values on risks associated with vendors. By using the language of business value, CISOs and risk officers are more effective at prioritising risks and making resource allocations.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) enters into TPRM

As ESG keeps growing on the corporate agenda, organisations are taking TPRM one step further than cybersecurity and legal risks and expanding it to incorporate ESG-related factors. In 2025, organisations evaluate if their suppliers have ethical labour practices, sustainable supply chains, DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) metrics and climate impact disclosures. This growth is not only a reputational concern, but also a third-party non-compliance with ESG can now invoke regulatory or shareholder action. ESG risk scoring software and vendor ESG audits are becoming components of onboarding and performance evaluations.

Shared Assessments and Third-Party Exchanges

With the duplication of effort by having multiple vendors respond to the same security questionnaires, the trend is moving toward shared assessments. Systems such as the SIG Questionnaire (Standardised Information Gathering) and the Global Vendor Exchange allow vendors to upload once and share with many clients. This change not only simplifies the due diligence process but also enhances data accuracy, standardisation and vendor experience. In 2025, organisations are relying more and more on industry-wide vendor assurance platforms to minimise duplication, decrease costs and maximise trust.

Incident Response and Resilience Partnerships

Another trend on the rise is bringing vendors into incident response planning. In 2025, proactive organisations address major vendors as more than suppliers but as resilience partners. This encompasses shared tabletop exercises, communication procedures and breach notification SLAs. With the increasing ransomware attacks and cloud reliance, organisations are now calling for vendor-side recovery plans, RTO and RPO metrics. TPRM is transforming into a comprehensive resilience management function where readiness and not mere compliance takes centre stage.

Conclusion

Third-Party Risk Management in 2025 is no longer about checklists and compliance audits; it's a dynamic, intelligence-driven and continuous process. With regulatory alignment, AI automation, real-time monitoring, ESG integration and resilience partnerships leading the way, organisations are transforming their TPRM programs to address contemporary threat landscapes. As digital ecosystems grow increasingly complex and interdependent, managing third-party risk is now essential. Early adopters who invest in tools, talent and governance will be more likely to create secure and resilient businesses for the AI era.

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References

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‍- https://finance.ec.europa.eu/publications/digital-operational-resilience-act-dora_en

- https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/nis2-directive

- https://www.meity.gov.in/data-protection-framework

- https://securityscorecard.com

- https://sharedassessments.org/sig/

- https://www.fairinstitute.org/fair-model 

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