Fake travel sites run from abroad: Cops

Kolkata: Barely a few days after the Kolkata Police cyber cell busted an online gang that created fake websites of some of the popular online travel portals, cops claim the probe has now revealed that fake websites are being hosted from outside the country. The gangs claimed to be executives of those reputed travel portals and “booked” air tickets of gullible customers after promising their victims major concessions.
“We have pulled down 108 fake websites this year, a majority of them being related to travel and leisure. However, within days of pulling them down, we found them back with almost identical names,” said a senior divisional cell officer.
The Kolkata Police cyber cell has contacted Google this week to try and find a remedy to a new fraud that is leading to several tourists and even genuine hotel owners from Kolkata being cheated during this peak tourist season.
“This has been brought to our notice in the past few weeks and we decided to raise the issue with Google,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
Cops said that tourists who try to book after searching standalone hotels stand the highest risk of falling victim to this fraud.