3 foreigners duped of $105 in Taj online ticket scam

AGRA: A case of cyberfraud linked to purchasing tickets for visiting the Taj Mahal has surfaced after three foreign tourists were allegedly duped into buying tickets for a total $105 (approximately Rs 9,700) through a fake website, police said Friday. An FIR has been registered and the matter is being probed.The fraud came to the fore on Monday when the tourists arrived at the monument’s western gate carrying tickets purchased online. Bablu Kumar Paswan, a staff deployed at the gate, detected a discrepancy, following which a police complaint was lodged by a senior conservation assistant with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).“On verification, the staff found the tickets invalid. The visitors had allegedly booked their tickets through a portal — ticketstajmahal.com — paying a total of $105, far exceeding the official price,” stated Kalandar in his complaint. A single ticket for foreigners, including access to the main mausoleum, is officially priced at Rs 1,300, but a tourist had paid $35 (around Rs 3,230) for a ticket through the fake website.Based on his complaint, an FIR was registered on Thursday at Agra cybercrime police station under BNS sections 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation) and relevant sections of the IT Act.Additional DCP (Taj security) Piyush Kant Rai told TOI, “ASI employees near the Taj Mahal received information that some individuals had created a fake website and were selling counterfeit tickets to foreign tourists. Acting on this information, a senior ASI officer submitted a complaint, which has been handed over to our cybercrime-related team for investigation.”ASI, which manages ticketing for the monument, clarified that only two platforms are authorised for online bookings and urged tourists to exercise caution while booking tickets.Notably, a similar case involving fake online ticket bookings for the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort have been reported earlier. In Feb 2023, the ASI headquarters in Delhi filed an FIR at the cyber police station in central Delhi against the same website.