Kolkata: A popular hotel chain on Tuesday lodged a police complaint, claiming fraudsters had created at least 31 fake websites, with 31 phone numbers, aimed at duping customers on the pretext of hotel bookings.Police said the accused created lookalike websites using domain names similar to the group’s official portals and ran sponsored ads on Google by inserting the brand name to trap customers. At least 31 fake URLs and 31 mobile numbers were allegedly used to operate the scam.
The hotel liaison officer said despite disclaimers from the official website and complaints, the fraud continued.“Efforts are on to identify the accused and disabling the fake websites,” a Bidhannagar officer said. The chain has hotels in various places, including Kolaghat, Taki, Mandarmani, Puri, Darjeeling, Tarapith and Sundarbans. tnn
