Fraudsters sent fake tickets to customers as agents on Sulekha
Fraudsters sent fake tickets to customers as agents on Sulekha
The Delhi Police on Friday said it has arrested two persons in connection with a fake online air ticket booking racket that recently defrauded a Delhi University professor who had emigrated to Canada to attend an official event. The flight was booked.
According to DCP (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi, the accused have been identified as 34-year-old Praveen Tiwari, resident of Bahraich in UP and Rohit Kumar, 34, resident of Rewari, Haryana.
The Cyber North police station received a complaint from a DU professor on March 29, in which he said that he intended to go to Canada for an official event to be held in the first week of April. On 23 March, his student inquired on his behalf for travel tickets on Sulekha application and received several calls for booking. “He allegedly had a good deal with a fake agent named Praveen Tiwari who had booked tickets for KLM Airlines and sent copies of his tickets on WhatsApp,” the DCP said.
Thereafter, as directed by the agent, the professor deposited ₹ 1,49,730 in his bank account. However, later when he checked the details of the ticket booked with the airline company, he found that the tickets were fake. “Efforts to contact the agent were in vain as his phone was switched off,” the DCP said.
After the fraud case was registered, the police came to know that the accused had cheated many people in the same manner. The police also contacted other victims to find other clues.
After continuous efforts, the police got information that the engagement of one of the accused is happening in Bahraich on Friday. After this, the accused were arrested after conducting raids.
During interrogation, the accused told the police that they had met in 2016 in Pune, where they were both working as travel agents. After suffering losses, they moved to Zirakpur in Punjab a few months back and hatched a plan to cheat potential customers. He got himself registered as an agent on the Sulekha app through fake contact numbers. Police said that whenever they got leads for flight ticket inquiries, they used to send copies of fake tickets to the victims.