PANJIM: Over 500 tourists were duped since 2022 with regard to booking villas for a holiday in Goa. The multi crore scam was bust by the North Goa Police after police received several complaints from tourists and by tracking the fraudulent activities online.
The fraudsters all based outside Goa, would list list fake villas for holidaying in Goa on reputed platforms such as Booking.com . They would and collect advance payments from unsuspecting tourists. However, when the tourists reached Goa, they would find that the phones of the concerned booking agents would be switched off.
Finally an FIR has been filed after Pankaj Dhimar a Chandigarh resident filed a complaint with Goa police. He stated that he had been defrauded of Rs 20,000.
Goa Police began to track this online fraud and finally were successful in nabbing four persons -- Saurabh Duseja aged 37, Sayed Ali Mukhtar, Mohammed Firoz, and Mohammed Azharuddin Saif have been arrested in this scam.
The accused had booked a rented room in Hyderabad and would receive the calls from potential victims and use female telephone operators to build trust. Three accused were tracked in Hyderabad and one was tracked in Jaipur.
The North Goa Police have advised tourists and locals to be aware of such frauds and not fall prey to them.