New Delhi, Feb. 27 -- A new wave of phishing frauds is targeting citizens through fake "e-challan" SMS messages, prompting fresh alerts from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

As per officials, victims receive an SMS claiming that a traffic e-challan has been issued against their vehicle. The message typically carries a link urging immediate payment to avoid penalties. Believing the message to be genuine, recipients click on the link and are redirected to a fake webpage designed to closely resemble the official M-Parivahan portal of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Cyber experts say, "This is where the phishing cycle begins."

The I4C wing alerts that the fraudulent website p...