Ram Mandir Inauguration: Ayodhya police cautions people as cybercrimes rise

The 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is just two days away. More and more people are nowadays becoming victims of cyber crimes, especially the ones which are related to the consecration ceremony of the temple. 

Ayodhya Police on Saturday cautioned and informed the people that cybercriminals are taking advantage of people's faith and are committing fraud by sending fake QR codes to collect donations in the name of the temple. 

The frauds range from collecting donations for distributing free prasad of the temple to creating VIP passes for the ceremony. Fake websites of the temple have also been made, news agency ANI reported.

The Ayodhya Police has requested citizens not to reply to any unknown person's request or any WhatsApp message sent by any unknown person without verification or donate money to anyone without verification.

Earlier, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had dispatched a specialised team in order to tackle such potential cyber threats.

This joint team comprises officials from the MHA's Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), and experts specialising in cyber-related matters, reported sources.

Meanwhile, the booking for the passes of 'Aarti' in the Ram Mandir kicked off back in December. Aartis are performed three times a day (6:30 am, 12 pm, 7:30 pm) for Lord Ram Lalla for which passes have been generated for the devotees.

The consecration ceremony of the temple is slated to be performed on January 22.

A team of priests led by Lakshami Kant Dixit will lead the rituals.