Online FRAUD ALERT! Noida woman tried to book Kedarnath hotel, it turned into a nightmare...

A 36-year-old woman was allegedly duped of nearly Rs 1 lakh by a cyber fraud.

A 36-year-old woman was allegedly duped of nearly Rs 1 lakh by a cyber fraud who contacted her after she tried to book a hotel room online in Kedarnath and conned her by sending multiple QR codes over WhatsApp for an advance payment, officials said Tuesday. An FIR has been lodged at the local Sector 113 police station on the basis of the complaint of the woman and an investigation has started into the case, the officials said.

According to the complaint, the incident took place on May 18 but the FIR was lodged on Monday and the woman (36), who lives in Noida's Sector 75, claimed a loss of Rs 95,604 in total. "The complainant stated that in May she was searching for a hotel in Kedarnath on Google for a trip she had planned for June. A couple of days after the search, she got a call from an unknown number in which the caller identified himself as a representative of a hotel in Kedarnath, a police official said, citing the FIR.

"Later, that representative, who identified himself as Nitin Kumar, contacted the woman over Whatsapp and shared pictures of a hotel and other details, including the tariff, of the facility," the official said.

Subsequently, the thug asked her to make a confirmation and pay half of the booking amount which was Rs 2,000, according to the police. He then sent a QR code to the woman over Whatsapp for Rs 2,000 but when she proceeded with the payment, she lost Rs 4,000 from her account.

The man then said it happened by mistake and re-sent her a QR code for refund, but once again she ended up losing money from her account, the official said.
"The caller then said that he had mistakenly entered a wrong code because of which the trouble started. He once again sent a QR code to return the money, but this time the woman lost Rs 9,901 from her account. Ultimately the woman ended up losing Rs 95,604 from her account, the official said.

When the woman called up the phone number, it went unreachable and was eventually switched off. She later got her bank account blocked fearing further loss of funds, according to the FIR. A Sector 113 police official said probe has been taken up as the FIR has been lodged under Indian Penal Code section 420 (cheating) and under provisions of the Information Technology Act.

The matter will be probed by the cyber cell of the Noida police, the official added. Meanwhile, officials urged the general public to report cases of cyber crime immediately on the dedicated helpline number 1930 or 112. They have also asked the public to be cautious during financial transactions online in order to avoid hassles.