Panaji: The Goa Police have arrested a 25-year-old man from Morena in Madhya Pradesh for creating fake websites of well-known hotels at tourist destinations across India and defrauding people by booking rooms in their names after collecting advance payment.
The arrest was made on Friday after the general manager of a beach resort in Goa’s Salcete, lodged a complaint to the Cyber Crime Police Station in Goa regarding the creation of a fake website of the property.
“In his complaint, the GM mentioned that the accused lured innocent customers and made them transfer money into his fraudulent bank accounts. We investigated the matter and going through the details of the website, homed in on one Lalit Khare, resident of Maharajpur Road, Morena, Madhya Pradesh. A crime branch team comprising inspector Prashal Dessai and constables S Makandar and Prakash Uttkari, reached Morena and arrested the accused,” SP of the Cyber Crime Cell of Goa Rahul Gupta said.
During interrogation, information on seven more fake websites came to light. Four of these were for hotels and resorts in Goa, two for hotels in Puri, Odisha and one for a hotel in Shillong, Meghalaya. Khare told the police that a person in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, had paid him money to create the websites. Interrogation of this man led to another address in Mewat, Rajasthan. Further investigation is underway, the SP said.
According to him, Khare had not only created the websites but also paid money to the host to upload them. They were uploaded in such a way that a person searching for a place to stay would immediately be taken to the fake website. The website had a WhatsApp number through which the fraudster, posing as a hotel staff, would interact with the innocent client. Finally, he would extract money with a promise to book rooms.
“We would like to advise the public to be careful while booking hotel rooms online. They should check whether there are multiple websites for a single property. Before transferring money, they should find out all details about the account and the person they are interacting with. In case of any problems, they can approach the local police station,” the SP said.
