Summer holidays are proving to be lucrative for conmen who are targeting people with fake online travel deals. The cybercrime cell is investigating two cases where the complainants were cheated of ₹3.9 lakh in total.
In one instance, a 43-year-old woman was duped of ₹70,000 by a man posing to be travel agents.
K. Radhika, a resident of Varthur, told the police in her complaint lodged on Monday that she was planning a vacation to the Andamans on April 6. While searching for the best online deals, she received a mail from a man who identified himself as Varun Sharma. He offered her an all-inclusive package, including travel fares, which she accepted. Ms. Radhika transferred ₹70,000 as advance, but once the transaction went through online, he disconnected his phone and did not respond to her emails.
K.S. Keshava Murthy, a 48-year-old private firm employee from Nagarabhavi, was also duped in a similar way while hunting for online deals for a vacation abroad. A man, who identified himself as Akshay Sharma and claimed to work at an online travel portal, contacted him with a ₹3.2 lakh package on April 3. Mr. Murthy transferred the funds, only to realise that he had been scammed.
The cybercrime police have taken up both the cases under cheating and also under various sections of the IT Act. The police suspect that the perpetrators are the same in both cases.
