HIGH phishing
Is “challan sms says pay within 24 hours to avoid blacklist” a scam?
Yes — this is a known, dangerous scam.
An SMS warns your vehicle has a pending traffic challan with a threat of court action. The link opens a fake M-Parivahan portal that harvests your card or banking credentials. Some variants prompt download of an APK that steals OTPs.
How to tell
- ⚠ The link is not echallan.parivahan.gov.in — look for lookalike domains like parivahan-challan.in or echallan-pay.com
- ⚠ Legitimate e-challans appear in your DigiLocker or at echallan.parivahan.gov.in — they don't arrive as surprise payment links
- ⚠ The payment portal asks for your full card number, CVV, and OTP — the real government portal never asks for CVV
- ⚠ The SMS creates urgency: 'Pay within 24 hours to avoid court proceedings' or 'vehicle blacklisting'
What to do right now
- 1 Do not click. Check actual challans by typing echallan.parivahan.gov.in directly in your browser — never follow a text link
- 2 If you entered card or net-banking details on the fake site, call your bank's fraud helpline immediately and freeze your card
- 3 If you downloaded and installed an APK from the link, factory-reset your Android device and change all banking passwords from a separate device
- 4 Report at https://cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 (national cyber helpline).
Full guidance, red flags, variants & official sources
SMS says your vehicle has an unpaid traffic fine — the link leads to a fake payment portal →