Around 300 people hoping to travel to Canada have been left in a lurch after their travel agents bought air tickets from a fraudster, police said on Friday.
The travellers had spent up to ₹2.3 lakh on a one-way ticket, and the travel agents who fell victim to the fraudulent deal had collectively spent around ₹3 crore on the tickets.
It is learnt that the accused had already bought 400 group tickets from airlines in August for ₹70,000, and had started selling the tickets to travel agents in September. With the term in Canadian colleges due to start in January, and limited flights available in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the tickets had sold for as high as ₹2.3 lakh.
The dealer had taken the travellers’ details from the travel agents and promised to send a physical ticket by December 12. However, no ticket was sent, and he later stopped answering the travel agents’ calls. Later, the agents found out that the Passenger Name Record (PNR) number given to them by the dealer was fake.
After local travel agents lodged a complaint against the dealer, commissioner of police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar marked a probe to the additional deputy commissioner of police.
One of the travel agents who fell victim to the scam said, “Many of us have returned the money to travellers from our own pocket so that our business does not suffer. We are not sure if we will get our money back.”
{{/usCountry}}One of the travel agents who fell victim to the scam said, “Many of us have returned the money to travellers from our own pocket so that our business does not suffer. We are not sure if we will get our money back.”
{{/usCountry}}Students say they are likely to miss classes this semester as only a limited seats are available. Arvind Arora, who had taken admission in a business administration course in Canada, said, “I paid ₹2.3 lakh for a one-way ticket, but two days before I was scheduled to travel, my agent said there was some problem with the tickets. There are no more tickets available and I have already paid my college fee.”