Goa resort falls victim to identity theft

Panaji: Goa police on Friday registered a first information report (FIR) against unknown persons for allegedly accepting bookings of hotel rooms in Goa through a fraudulent website.
Cyber crime PI Deepak Pednekar said that the accused created fake websites impersonating complainant Riva Beach Resort, using its name and address, and fraudulently and dishonestly accepted online bookings from its prospective customers by inducing them to pay the booking amount through online transactions.
“Hence, the accused committed identity theft by using the name Riva Beach Resort and cheated its probable customers using computer resources,” Pednekar said.
The PI said that the scam came to light when the customers started arriving at the resort and having arguments with the staff for not providing them with the rooms they booked online. Pednekar said that when the hotel management inquired about the bookings, they realised that some persons created a fake website in their resort's name and were accepting the bookings.
The PI said that immediately, Riva Beach Resort approached the cyber crime police station and lodged their complaint.
Resort general manager Suraj Colvalkar in his complaint said that he is writing to formally lodge a complaint regarding a fraudulent website that is impersonating their company and deceiving customers by collecting payments for fake room reservations.
“We recently discovered that an unauthorised entity created a fake website under our company’s name, misleading potential customers into making payments for bookings that do not exist. The fraudulent website is falsely representing our business, damaging our reputation, and causing financial loss to unsuspecting customers,” Colvalkar said.
“The fake website is not affiliated to our company in any way, and we request urgent action to take it down and investigate those responsible. We urge you to take necessary legal steps against the perpetrators and ensure that such fraudulent activities are curbed,” the resort GM said in the complaint.