The cybercrime police have registered an FIR against unknown persons who had created a fake website resembling the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) official website and were collecting data of aspirants of professional courses, under the Information Technology Act on Wednesday.

The police action followed a complaint by the Administrative Officer of the KEA on Tuesday.

“The KEA is the State agency for conducting entrance examinations and allotment of seats to professional courses, and it has its own website, https://cetonline.karnataka.gov.in/kea/. We came across the fake site while doing a search with the keywords ‘KEA home’. When you enter the website, it asks for personal details of students such as name, mobile number, email, State, and course, and upon submitting them, a ‘success’ message is displayed. This shows that this website just collects students’ details,” the complaint stated.

The design of the website is similar to that of the official website, it said.

Prasanna H., Executive Director of KEA, has appealed to students and parents not to get cheated by registering on such fake websites.