Two arrested for fake resort booking website scam in Powai

Mumbai: Powai police arrested two men from Pimpri-Chinchwad and Beed district after their role was established in a fake hotel and resort website scam in which a 53-year-old Powai resident was duped of Rs 12,000 in January while trying to book a resort in Karjat.

The arrested men were identified as Kunal Gaikwad (21), a college dropout from Pimpri-Chinchwad, and Datta Kedar (23), a graduate from Beed. Police said the duo shared their bank account and SIM with the racket to carry out the fraud. Gaikwad was arrested on May 5 and Kedar on March 25.

“The racket are using mule accounts to carry out cyber frauds and park the fraudulent money. In this case, Gaikwad’s bank account while Kedar’s SIM were used by the racket to carry out the fraud after the details was shared to the complainant to make payment for resort booking using QR Code that was send to him,” said a Powai police officer.

Police said the Powai resident, employed in the Merchant Navy, fell victim between Jan 2 and 3 under the pretext of booking a room at Urivergate Resort. Police said he got in touch with Gaikwad, who pretended to be a business operator registered as Kunal Confectionery in Dharak, and provided Google Pay details to dupe him.

In the complaint, the Powai resident said: “On January 2, while searching on the internet to book Urivergate Resort, I found the website https://www.urivergatekarjat.online/?gad_campaignid=23347184388. On this website, I found mobile number 869803663 for booking. When I called this mobile number from my mobile number 9987544467, the holder of mobile number 869803663 answered and told me to contact him via WhatsApp on mobile number 869803663 for resort booking. The unknown person gained my trust by sending me photos of the resort and told me that I would have to send Rs12000 as an advance for booking 2 rooms. He sent me a Google Pay QR code to accept the payment online. I scanned the QR code using Google Pay on my wife’s mobile. At that time, the money appeared to be deposited into a business named Kunal Confectionery. After that, when I contacted the person regarding my booking, he gave evasive answers, which confirmed that I had been defrauded. After that, I called the cyber helpline 1930 and registered my complaint.”

Based on the complaint, DCP Datta Nalawade supervised the team senior inspector Jitendra Sonawane, inspector Ganesh Patil, sub-inspector Prashant Kendre and staff, who solved the case after first tracking the QR code that the complainant was provided to send the money for booking. Police said the QR code helped retrieve the SIM number, which helped locate the bank account to which it was linked.

Powai police said they tracked the accused four months after they carried out the fraud and were looking for two more persons who were part of the racket. The duo were in judicial custody and failed to get bail.