Family duped of ₹84,000 on pretext of Malaysia tour

Police said the complainant had remitted the money in three transactions to the accused person via online transfer for flight tickets and hotel bookings. The family later found out that their flight bookings were cancelled and that the hotel bookings were never made by the online travel company.

A resident of Sector 5 and three of her family members were allegedly conned of ₹83,843 by a man who introduced himself as the sales advisor of an online travel company for a round-trip between Delhi and Malaysia. The complaint in this regard was lodged in the second week of January. The cyber cell of Gurugram police completed investigations and filed a case on Monday.

A case was registered against the accused under sections 66 D of The Information Technology Act, 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code at the Cyber Crime police station. (HT Photo/Representative Image)

Police said the complainant had remitted the money in three transactions to the accused person via online transfer for flight tickets and hotel bookings. The family later found out that their flight bookings were cancelled and that the hotel bookings were never made by the online travel company, police said.

She was supposed to travel to Malaysia in the first week of January and had contacted the sales advisor of an online travel company.

“We were given a confirmed Malaysian airline ticket. On calling Malaysian Airlines, we were informed that our tickets had been cancelled by the agent (this was done) without our consent or knowledge. We were also given a confirmed hotel booking for a resort in Langkawi from January 5 to 7. On sending a mail to them, we were informed that no such booking was done,” she said in the complaint, adding that another ‘confirmed’ booking at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur could not be verified.

Police said the complainant tried to call the accused sales advisor but he had switched off his phone number, adding that the victim had incurred a loss of ₹83,843.

A police official privy to the investigation, requesting anonymity, said they were yet to verify if the accused person was a fake agent or if the website itself was fake. The police said they are trying to trace the location of the accused.

A case was registered against the accused under sections 66 D of The Information Technology Act, 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code at the Cyber Crime police station.