Chennai, Nov 4 (PTI) Cyber criminals, by making fake claims that firecrackers are available for sale at dirt cheap prices, have duped many people and the public should be vigilant, the Tamil Nadu police said on Saturday.

With Deepavali round the corner, the police said people should be cautious while making purchases online and said a total of 25 such cases have been registered during the past one month.

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Outlining the modus operandi, an official release here said people were lured through advertisements, with bogus offers on social media platforms. Eventually, they get directed to a website where they make online payments to receive firecrackers.

However, once the payment was made, the contact phone numbers of the bogus firms became inaccessible and people were cheated.

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The public must, hence, exercise caution and diligently make their purchase decisions after ascertaining the veracity of claims made online.

People may lodge their complaints at www.cybercrime.gov.in or call the toll-free number 1930 for assistance. Deepavali falls on November 12.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)