Bijnor Police have arrested seven people accused of running an organised cyber fraud syndicate that created fake versions of the Transport Department’s official High Security Registration Plate booking website. Investigators say the group designed fraudulent portals closely resembling the genuine HSRP site and collected online payments from vehicle owners under the pretext of number plate bookings, without ever delivering the promised plates. Police seized 11 mobile phones, one laptop and ₹12,300 in cash during the operation.
From an ATM Fraud Tip-Off to a Nationwide Racket
The case surfaced almost by accident. It began with the investigation of a ₹3.68 lakh ATM fraud reported in the Noorpur area, after which an FIR was registered on July 8. Analysing technical evidence, digital surveillance data and banking trails from that case led investigators to a far larger cyber fraud network.
The accused had allegedly built two lookalike domains, bookkhsrplate.com and bookmyhsrp.com, designed to closely imitate the appearance and functionality of the official HSRP booking portal. Vehicle owners who visited these sites believed them genuine, entered their vehicle details, and paid online, only for the accused to neither issue registration plates nor return the money. Police found 29 complaints linked to the syndicate registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal from 15 states, including Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir.
The arrested accused have been identified as Anas, Tushar Sharma, Prashant Kumar, Mohammad Faizan, Mohit Kumar, Arshad and Rehan. Investigators are examining each individual’s specific role, including who developed the websites, who registered the domains, and how payments were processed and moved through bank accounts and digital payment channels.
A Scam With a Well-Documented National History
Bijnor’s case is far from the first instance of this specific fraud. Fake HSRP booking sites have surfaced repeatedly across India in recent years, with victims reported in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh, among other states, all describing the same pattern of a convincing replica site, an online payment, and a plate that never arrives. In one earlier case, a Bengaluru man was arrested for creating fake links that Maharashtra’s official HSRP vendors themselves flagged to police after noticing the fraudulent traffic they were generating.
What makes the scam persistently effective is genuine regulatory pressure: HSRP plates are mandatory under a Supreme Court directive for vehicles registered before April 2019, and fear of fines pushes many owners to search for booking sites quickly, often clicking the first convincing-looking link rather than verifying its authenticity first. Fraudulent sites also tend to rank highly in search results and circulate widely through WhatsApp and SMS, further narrowing the gap between a genuine government reminder and a scam link.
What Investigators Are Doing Next
Seized mobile phones, the laptop and other electronic devices have been sent for digital forensic examination. Investigators are analysing bank records, payment gateway data, domain registration details and IP logs to reconstruct the full network, and are examining whether the syndicate maintained links with cybercriminal groups operating in other states.
Prof. Triveni Singh, the former IPS officer and cybercrime specialist, said creating fake replicas of government websites has become one of the most dangerous methods cybercriminals use to deceive the public, since fraudsters exploit similar-looking domain names and cloned designs to build trust before stealing money. He advised citizens to always verify the website URL and official source before making any payment for government services, and stressed that effective prevention requires rapid identification and blocking of fraudulent domains, continuous payment gateway monitoring, and stronger real-time information sharing between law enforcement agencies.
