After several incidents of people being duped by fake websites on the pretext of providing passport, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has taken various initiatives to curb such incidents in future.
The MEA has also issued a nationwide alert on the emergence of fake websites that claim to provide passport services. These fraudulent websites and mobile applications collect data from applicants and also levy hefty charges for filling up the online application form.
The MEA charges Rs 1500 for the normal passport while for urgent passport the registration fee is Rs 3500. However, the fake passport websites charge over Rs 5000 from them. Since many get appointment for passport and related services such incidents of cheating rarely come to fore.
At the Regional Passport Office Nagpur too such incidents have come to light. The only official website where one can apply for passport services is:  www.passportindia.gov.in. Citizens can also use the official mPassport Seva app that is available on both Android and iOS. The applications can be downloaded for free from play store (IOS) and Google Play (Android users).
However, many fake passport websites are also operational which share unique resemblance with the original websites. Sources said, many such fake passport websites use the name of authorized or registered consultancy service providers to prevent themselves from getting under scanner of the cyber cell of police department. The fake passport websites are registered in the domain name .org, .in, .com instead of gov.in which is the original domain name of the government’s passport website.
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