Crime Branch & HROA Meet On Steps To Check Cyber Frauds In Hotel Booking In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The CID-CB and the Hotel & Restaurants Owners’ Association (HROA) have decided to make collaborative efforts to curb cyber frauds in hotel booking.

At a meeting of senior officers of CID-CB and officer bearers of the HROA in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, the ways to prevent and detect of such crimes were explored.

In the meeting, chaired by Arun Bothra, Additional DG of Police, CID-CB, it was revealed that the two recently registered cases of cyber fraud in hotel booking concerning two leading hotels of the state were not isolated incidents. There have been other reported and non-reported cases over a period of time.

With most of the travellers these days booking hotels online, the CID-CB has found that cyber criminals are creating fake websites of hotels in Odisha. They are specially targeting hotels in Puri where tourist flow is maximum. While travelers try to book room, these fake websites lead them to bank accounts of scammers for depositing money. When the tourists reach hotel with fake booking vouchers, they come to know about the scam.

It has been found that in most cases, the tourists leave without lodging a police complaint making it difficult for the police to take appropriate action. In view of growing number of such incidents it was decided to hold a meeting with the stakeholders.

Sh Shefeen Ahmed K, IGP; Sisir Mishra, Additional SP and Inspector Anila Anand attended the meeting. The delegates of HROA comprised JK Mohanty, Chairman, Jouathan Raul- VC, Srinivas Subudhi, working president, Ravi Narayan Sahoo, member, Sujit Ku Mahapatra, treasurer, Somanath Banarjee, member and KK Rao, executive secretary.

During a presentation in the meeting, the IG apprised about different kinds of cyber scams in hotel industry. Hotel owners were requested to collaborate with the police for prompt and better handling of such cases. They were sensitised to bring to the notice of police all the cyber-crimes cases concerning hotel room booking at the earliest for necessary legal action.

It was also decided to appoint nodal officers from both sides for prompt flow of information and swift action on the part of police. CID-CB will organise training session for hotel staff to update them about handling such cases and helping the tourists.