Villa rental scam busted in Goa
State has now been hit by a multi-crore villa rental scandal, as revealed by Goa Police, which led to the arrest of four individuals, posing as hotel operators and duped over 500 unsuspecting tourists by exploiting loopholes on renowned booking platforms such as Booking.com.
Three persons from Hyderabad and one from Gwalior have been arrested by the North Goa Police in the scam.
The arrested include Saurabh Duseja, 37 years, from Lakshar, Gwalior, Sayed Ali Mukhtar from Tolichowki, Hyderabad, Mohd Firoz from Himayat Nagar,
Hyderabad and Mohd
Azharuddin Saif from Asif Nagar, Hyderabad.
According to the police, the fraudulent operation was active since 2022 and the four accused persons deceived tourists by listing non-existent properties for rent and collecting advance payments through multiple bank accounts.
The scam came to light following a complaint by Pankaj Dhiman, a resident of Chandigarh.
Pankaj complained that he was defrauded of Rs 20,000 while trying to book a property “Ruby Villa”, Goa on Booking.com. On his arrival at the location, Dhiman discovered that the villa did not exist. Following his complaint, an FIR u/s 318 (4) of BNS, 2023, was registered at the Anjuna Police Station.
Two under training IPS officers attached to Goa Police were entrusted with the job of investigating the scam.
The Goa Police had recently received several complaints regarding online fraud targeting tourists. Superintendent of Police (SP) North Goa Akshat Kaushal said there could be more victims.
He said, “Initial investigations revealed that over 500 individuals have fallen prey to this scam. Efforts are on to contact the victims and formally record their complaints.” Though the scam has been executed through stay hosting web platforms, the SP informed that the transactions did not happen through the websites of these hosting platforms.
During interrogation, the accused confessed to orchestrating the scam and revealed their modus operandi. Operating from a rented room in Hyderabad, they would field calls from potential victims and use female telephone operators to build trust.
The perpetrators exploited vulnerabilities in booking platforms to create fraudulent listings for non-existent properties. They then collected advance payments through digital payment systems linked to multiple bank accounts.
