55-yr-old woman, friend, cheated of ₹3.78L in the name of Kumbh tents and cheap air tickets

MUMBAI: A woman was cheated of ₹3.78 lakh while booking VIP tents and flights for Kumbh Mela. Police registered a case against unknown suspects.

MUMBAI: A case has been registered by the N M Joshi Marg police in Central Mumbai against unknown persons after a 55-year-old woman approached them claiming that she and her friend were cheated of ₹3.78 lakh while trying to book VIP tents at the Kumbh Mela site and air tickets to Prayagraj.

55-yr-old woman, friend, cheated of ₹3.78L in the name of Kumbh tents and cheap air tickets

According to the police, the woman, who owns a furniture shop in Lower Parel, came across the website, tentcitymahakumbh, while looking for tents at the ongoing Kumb Mela site in Prayagraj. She dialled the telephone number given on the site on February 7.

“The call receiver told her he is the not the right person and someone else will call her soon. Accordingly, she got a call from a different number after 30 minutes and the caller sent her a brochure on WhatsApp on tents and asked her for details and documents of the individuals planning on visiting,” said the police officer who registered the case.

The same person then sent her bank details which were registered in the name of ‘UP State Tourism II’. Seeing ‘UP State Tourism’ in the name, the complainant did not suspect anything and transferred ₹35,000. The next day, on February 8, she again got a call from the accused claiming that he can get them flight tickets also at discounted rates and said she could get six tickets for just ₹2,61,990. Believing him, she paid some more amount and said her friend will make the rest of the payment.

However, on February 10, the accused told her that as they had delayed the payment, the offer was no longer valid, and they will now have to pay ₹93,000 more for the tickets.

“Left with no alternative, the complainant and her friend made the payment and waited for the tickets. However, the tickets never came, and the accused stopped taking their calls and replying to their messages. Realising that they had been cheated of around ₹3.78 lakh, the complainant then approached us,” said the police officer.

The N M Joshi Marg police registered a case against unknown people under sections 318 (4) (deceiving someone with dishonest intent to gain property, money, or an unfair advantage) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and 66 C (punishment for identity theft) and 66 D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.