MMC flags fake website mimicking doctors’ registration portal

The fake portal — maharashtramedicalcouncile.in — closely resembles the council’s official website, maharashtramedicalcouncil.org.in, differing by an additional “e” in the domain name.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), the statutory body responsible for registering allopathic doctors in the state, has warned medical practitioners against a fake website that closely mimics its official portal. The council has now lodged a complaint with the cyber police after discovering the fraudulent website.

MMC flags fake website mimicking doctors’ registration portal

The fake portal — maharashtramedicalcouncile.in — closely resembles the council’s official website, maharashtramedicalcouncil.org.in, differing by an additional “e” in the domain name.

The MMC, a quasi-judicial autonomous body under the state’s medical education and drugs department, oversees the registration of doctors, approves accredited medical conferences and examines complaints against practitioners. It currently has over 2.1 lakh registered doctors, while around 1.5 lakh have enrolled for registration renewals.

A doctor, requesting anonymity, said he unknowingly accessed the fake website and repeatedly tried to log in before noticing the extra letter in the domain name.

“I kept trying to log in and only later realised the website address had an additional ‘e’. I did not make any payment, but other doctors could easily have done so because almost every service, from registration and renewals to updating personal details, requires online payment,” he said.

“What is scary is that during registrations, doctors must provide a lot of personal details to the website which may now be available to the scammers. How could the MMC choose only to post a warning instead of filing a case against the culprit,” he said.

The fake website, however, redirects users to the genuine Know Your Doctor (KYD) portal, which allows patients to verify the credentials of registered medical practitioners.

MMC president and administrator Dr Vinky Rughwani said the council had not received any complaints of financial fraud linked to the fake website.

“It is only a fake landing page and does not lead users anywhere. We became aware of it eight days ago and issued a warning on our website the same day,” he said.

MMC registrar Rakesh Waghmare later told HT that the council lodged a complaint with the cyber police on Sunday. Authorities are now expected to investigate who created the fake website and whether any doctors’ data may have been compromised.