Fake Hotel Booking Websites
🔹Short Note
Fake Hotel Booking Websites : Right before the annual Rath Yatra 2026 was to take place in Puri, the Crime Branch of Odisha stepped in to protect pilgrims and tourists from being scammed through online booking by blocking nearly 50 fake hotel booking websites. These websites were not only impersonating real hotels, but they were also cheating the visitors in a way that they were lured into paying in advance by offering incredible discounts as well as fake VIP packages.
🔹Detailed Explanation
With lakhs of devotees expected to visit Puri for the Rath Yatra, hotel bookings through cybercrime are a prime target for criminals. They create fake websites which look very similar to the real hotel websites. In addition to the website deletion, the Odisha Crime Branch revealed that they shut down around 50 counterfeit hotel booking websites in only seven days as part of their cybercrime initiative before the festival. Legitimate hotels’ identities were copied on fake sites to mislead tourists.
- Usually, the massive ads from scammers go like this:
- Very substantial discounts on accommodations
- Surety of a place to stay during the Rath Yatra
- Fraudulent VIP Darshan packages
- Last minute “special” offers
- High-end rooms with ridiculously low prices
In the end, after the target was tricked into making a booking, 100% advance payment would be requested by the fraudsters through UPI, bank transfer, or digital wallets etc. The moment the payment was done, they would either stop replying or give fake booking confirmations. Many a time, tourists discovered the fraud only upon reaching Puri since no reservations were made.
Hackers used scam websites to impersonate popular Puri temples and lure devotees demanding money via ‘fake darshan’ offers and other schemes. Fortunately, the police prevented major losses by identifying and closing down such sites. Technology-assisted vigilance and cooperation with internet service providers enabled swift action against scammer domains.
Numerous complaints obtained via the country-wide cybercrime helpline (number 1930), in addition to hotel owners’ and government agencies’ reports, contributed to locating the fake websites, said the officials.
According to police records, the problem of online hotel room booking fraud is on the rise particularly in Odisha’s tourist spots like Puri, Bhubaneswar, and Cuttack. Last year, a number of tourists were cheated of amounts running into lakhs after getting duped by fake hotel booking sites. Considering the upcoming festival season, the authorities have planned to keep a close watch on cyberspace.
The team of inspectors further mentioned that many fake websites shown up in prime positions on Google search results making the task of distinguishing a genuine hotel portal from a fake one difficult for travelers. In order to make their websites appear legitimate and winning customer trust, fraudsters take help of hotel images, reviews of genuine clients, and even bona fide customer care numbers.
Therefore, now more than ever, technology has both good and evil sides which are keeping in a rivalry. Here is one more example of that. With a spectacular boost in the number of people booking hotels via the internet, the fraudsters take advantage of the ongoing trust in online platforms and turn to making fake hotel booking websites that are highly convincing.
🔹Safety Tips for Travelers
- Here are some tips to keep you from being victimized by hotel booking scams:
- Reserve your rooms only on the websites of the hotels yourself or on travel portals with a good reputation.
- Independent verification of hotel telephone numbers must be done before making a payment.
- Once the booking is made, check by calling the hotel directly.
- In any case, do not trust the offer of extremely low prices even during the peak travel season.
- Only in case of utmost necessity, make a full advance payment.
- Rather than transferring money directly to someone’s personal UPI ID or bank account, use a secure payment method.
- Take a look at real customer reviews through various reliable sources.
- If you come across any suspicious websites, do not hesitate to report them to Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 and National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
🔹Nyay Neeti Advice
Seasonal festival periods are often chosen by cybercriminals as times when travelers tend to rush into making their bookings. Therefore, it is always a good idea to double check that the hotel website is authentic, get in touch with the hotel directly, and be wary of very attractive discounts or the promise of guaranteed VIP treatment.
In case you realize that you may have made a reservation at a fake hotel website, you should first of all contact your bank, report the matter to the Cyber Crime Helpline (1930), keep any payment receipts and screenshots, emails, chat records and booking confirmations, and lodge a complaint as soon as possible. Reporting early can help you to possibly get fraudulent transactions frozen and also be of assistance to law enforcement authorities in tracing the criminals.
