Frauds create bogus website of hotel, dupe people of ₹2.18L

Mumbai: The Orchid Hotel in Vile-Parle has lodged a police complaint alleging that a bogus website of their hotel was created by frauds who duped customers by accepting bookings

Mumbai: The Orchid Hotel in Vile-Parle has lodged a police complaint alleging that a bogus website of their hotel was created by frauds who duped customers by accepting bookings. As many as six customers have already approached the hotel in the last ten days claiming that they had been cheated by the frauds to the tune of ₹2.18 lakh.

Frauds create bogus website of hotel, dupe people of ₹2.18L

According to the police, the case has been registered on the complaint of Aloy Arthur, a resident of Madh Island who works with the hotel. Arthur told the police in his statement that since September 11, several people have come to the hotel claiming that they have a booking with them.

Later, when they checked the details, it was found they had booked their stay with a fake website made by the frauds. “The frauds had added the word ‘online’ to the original website address of the hotel and made a fake website. They had started taking bookings and accepting money,” said the police officer.

When several patrons started approaching the hotel claiming that they had booked their stay and paid money in advance. None of the details could be found in the hotel’s data. The staff of the hotel suspected something wrong and later learnt about the fake website created by the frauds.

“Six people who reached the hotel have been duped separately by the frauds. Preres Chavan paid ₹1.04 lakh, Manoj Basu paid ₹23,570, Punit Sharma paid ₹4,400, Shrusti Asudani paid ₹43,000, Mustaq Rahim paid ₹34,000 and Sandeep Singh who paid ₹7,800 have been cheated by the frauds. In all, the total amount duped is ₹2.18 lakh,” said a police officer.

The officer said it seems there is a search engine fraud where the cheats have not only made a fake website but also changed the number of the hotel online and sent links to people who called them for booking hotels.

“We registered the case on Wednesday and are investigating the case,” said a police officer.