55-yr-old duped of Rs. 80K via fake travel portal in Mumbai

The complainant, who works as a clerk at a petroleum company, wanted to take his family on a tour to Malaysia and Singapore.

The Maharashtra cyber police are on the lookout for unknown persons who duped a 55-year-old man of Rs. 80,000 through a fake travel website.

The accused said he would also arrange for the visa and air tickets. He instructed the complainant to transfer Rs.80,000 as advance payment to get the visa and air tickets and asked him to mail all the relevant documents. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

According to Kasturba Marg police, the complainant, who works as a clerk at a petroleum company, wanted to take his family on a tour to Malaysia and Singapore. He started searching for the best deals being offered by tour agencies on the internet.

He visited shiningstartrip.com and called on a contact number mentioned on the website. The fraudster offered the complainant a trip to Malaysia and Singapore for seven nights and eights days for three persons at a price of Rs.2 lakh. The accused said that he would also arrange for the visa and air tickets. He instructed the complaint to transfer Rs.80,000 as advance payment to get the visa and air tickets and asked him to mail all the relevant documents.

20 days after paying the money, the complainant did not get any reply from the fraudster. He then called on the number and the fraudster got angry and said he would return the money and cancel his trip. On July 15 the complainant approached the police and an FIR was registered under relevant IPC and IT Act.

The fraudulent website is still operational on the internet but the search engine provider has marked it as “not secure”. “There are several such fake websites on the internet created for targeted phishing activities. The best solution is to approach registered offices of tour agencies in your city,” said Dr Balsing Rajput, superintendent of police, Maharashtra (cyber).