Woman Loses Approximately Rs 1 Lakh To Fake Google Hotel Listing – Here’s How You Can Avoid Such Travel Scams. (Image: Canva)
In what comes as a shocking incident, a content creator, got scammed while booking a hotel through google listing. Shreya Mitra shared her disheartening experience of coming across this racket and losing a hefty amount. She had plans to visit Puri during Holi and was looking for hotels for her vacation.
This is when she Googled Mayfair Heritage Puri and clicked the first web page. After finding the contact details, she called at the number available and had a conversation about booking her stay. The scammers sent her the pictures and details of the room. This is when she decided to book that room and sent the necessary money to complete the process.
Without even realising, she lost ₹93,600 in this fraud. To make it look real, the swindlers sent her a fake invoice. She then asked for an email confirmation but received an excuse for the system being down instead.
The next morning, one of the scammers called her and asked her to go back to Google Pay app, click on pay, and put a provided booking ID of 5-6 digits. Strange, right?
Shreya understood that there was something fishy and on doing some research she found out that she has been scammed.
The sad part being, there is nothing new in this. Online travel scams have become really common. Here are some tips you can avoid from being scammed.
Verify The Local Website
Always make sure that you thoroughly book through the hotel’s official website or a well-known travel platform.
Request For A Written Confirmation
A genuine website will always provide email confirmations with official letterheads.
Look For Red FlagsIf the process seems to be suspicious, step back and verify.