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Government warns against viral letter about watching porn: This is what you should never do

A fake letter claiming to be from the Indian Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) is circulating on social media, falsely accusing recipients of being involved in illegal activities such as child pornography and paedophilia. Cyber ​​Dost, the Home Ministry's official cyber security and cyber security awareness agency, issued an alert on August 21 regarding this fraudulent letter.

Ministry statement on the fake letter

In a post shared on its social media account, Cyber ​​Dost clarified the situation. “A letter purportedly written by the Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Centre of India (I4C) makes several allegations against the recipient and a response to the letter is awaited,” the post said. However, it further stressed, “This letter is #fake. No such letter has been written by any organization under GOI #I4C #MHA.”

The ToI also received a similar fake letter. The contents of this letter largely match the photo shared by Cyber ​​​​Dost, even though the signatories are different. What is noticeable is that the letter has two titles – one from the Ministry of Home Affairs and another from “The Indian Police Service, Office of the Additional Director General of Police (ADG)”.

The accompanying email, which purported to be from a senior official, said the Cybercrime and Economic Crimes Unit had conducted an analysis of the recipient's internet usage. The email stated: “This analysis revealed that you have been secretly accessing child pornography websites via the internet in your office or home.”

Alleged legal threats

The email further said that the Home Ministry is working closely with the Delhi Police's Special Cell, which is responsible for handling complex cybercrime cases, especially those involving women and children. It also said that the department's advanced digital forensics labs can detect visits to illegal websites and recover deleted data from various devices. The email threatened legal action if the notice was not responded to within 24 hours.

Steps the public should take

The ministry advises people who receive such letters to remain calm and not panic. It is important to realise that these are fraudulent attempts by scammers to deceive the public. In case of genuine complaints about cybercrime, people should contact the official government portal directly: The incident highlights the increasing sophistication of online fraud and the importance of verifying the authenticity of all official correspondence received.

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