It was a lazy Saturday afternoon. I wanted to make a hotel booking for a weekend with my family, a group of 14 people. After looking for several locations nearby Mumbai, my family settled for FARIYAS at Lonavala. I tried the local landline from the official website but it was always engaged. Finally, a member from our group got the mobile number of a FARIYAS agent listed on Google ads and inquired about the availability. He negotiated and confirmed the rooms and the dates and told me to make an advance payment of Rs. 15000/- towards the booking. After a lot of calls back and forth to check the room details and whether we would get our money back if the government declared a bandh due to the rains, I was assured that we would get ground-floor swimming pool facing rooms and that it was a zero cancellation policy so we would get our full money back in case of a bandh. That was quite enough for me to be assured that we were getting our money back. Later the agent gave me his bank details including an HDFC bank account number along with the IFSC CODE of the Lonavala Branch. I initiated a bank to bank Google pay transfer. He sent me the bill stating all the necessary booking details.
Once done, I almost settled down to relax when I received a call again from the agent saying that I had to complete the remaining payment to avail of the zero cancellation policy. I got annoyed as my family member had not told me to make the full payment. We got him on a conference call and realised he was taking each other’s name to push his story. We cut the call and realised something was amiss. I once again looked up the landline of FARIYAS hotel from Google and this time it got connected. On checking with the Receptionist, Sales office and Reservation office we realised we had NO BOOKING on our name and that we were duped. It was a CYBER CRIME FRAUD. I called him again, he picked the line and I warned him to return my money lest I place a police complaint to which he casually said, ‘Go ahead, complain.’
I immediately logged a complaint on the National Cyber Crime website. I called the helpline, and they confirmed that my FIR has been lodged. After that, I would go daily to my bank and the police station for a week after school to inquire about the status and the progress of my case. Both, the bank and the police weren’t very forthcoming in their attempt to solve the case. Finally after a week, my bank manager asked me to inquire with the HDFC bank. On enquiring with the HDFC bank manager I discovered that the account was not from a bank in Lonavala but from Alwar, Rajasthan. And, when I had transferred my money to the fraud agent at 2:01 pm, he had withdrawn my money by 2:14 pm. I also got to know that there were other large and small amounts deposited and withdrawn from his account and after my complaint too he had committed one more transaction after which the account had been blocked.
Well, my money was gone, for sure! And I know the police are not going to Alwar Rajasthan to track and catch him. I also can say for sure that the FRAUD AGENT will make another account and continue cheating people because his method seems legit to many unsuspecting individuals.
While visiting the police station for that one week I learnt of several other fraud cases in which people have been duped for huge sums of money. I wonder how these criminals will ever be caught? It’s high time the Reserve Bank of India comes with a fool proof plan to secure our money.
Nevertheless, I have learnt :
The takeaway from this experience is to be cautious when making online transactions, especially with unknown agents. It is important to verify the authenticity of the person and the transaction before making any payments. Additionally, it is crucial to report any fraudulent activity to the authorities and to take steps to protect oneself from future scams.