The Odisha Police Crime Branch took down at least 46 fraudulent websites that were tricking tourists with fake hotel bookings and travel packages for the upcoming Rath Yatra festival, set to start on July 16, officials said on Monday.
The crime branch’s cyber cell stepped in swiftly after receiving several complaints from visitors who fell victim to online accommodation scams while planning their trips, according to officials.
In a recent case lodged with the Puri Police, a tourist from Rajasthan reported that he had paid for three hotel rooms through an online portal for his family. However, on reaching the hotel, he found that no such reservation had been made in his name.
“Over the past week, our cyber experts tracked down 46 deceptive portals exploiting travellers. The highest number – 11 websites were blocked on June 27, following the removal of 15 other portals between June 20 and June 22,” a senior police officer stated.
“Our teams are now conducting continuous digital surveillance to spot and eliminate fraudulent booking networks targeting the seasonal rush for the Puri Rath Yatra,” the official noted.
The official highlighted that fraudsters were taking advantage of the massive scale of the annual festival, which routinely brings lakhs of pilgrims into the city.
“They have created fake portals offering attractive room tariffs, VIP darshan and other services, while demanding advance payments from unsuspecting visitors,” the officer said.
Explaining the modus operandi, the officer noted that the fraudsters copy the design of legitimate hotels or create lookalike domains optimised to rank high on popular search engines.
Intelligence from the Crime Branch said that roughly 30 tourists have been swindled out of nearly Rs 5 lakh over the past 12 months via these digital accommodation traps in Odisha.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had previously flagged similar issues last year, urging crime branch to step in against fraudulent websites impersonating the temple’s official guesthouse reservation system.
In a written grievance, the SJTA pointed out that the counterfeit sites copied the temple’s design so flawlessly that everyday devotees struggled to separate the real portals from the scams.
