Fake websites dupe Golden Temple devotees on pretext of booking ‘sarai’

GS PAUL

Amritsar, June 7

The devotees, especially from the outstation and overseas, aspiring to visit the Golden Temple were being defrauded by the swindlers on the pretext of booking their accommodation online.

The fake web portals with pictures of the Golden Temple and the ‘sarais’ run by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) have been active on the internet.

The miscreants, through the bogus portal, would ask for the payment between Rs 850 to Rs 4,200 via online wallet/QR code in advance. As soon as the payment is made, their phone numbers become defunct.

An Amritsar resident wished to book a room at SGPC-run Saragarhi Niwas located on the Heritage Street for his guests planning to visit the Golden Temple. When he searched, the search engine took him to the website saragarhisaraihotel.com, in the first place. Before he ended up losing Rs 3,200 to fraudsters.

After getting constant complaints, the SGPC has brought the matter to the notice of the Amritsar police.

SGPC manager (sarai) Gurpreet Singh said this was not the only case. He said that at least 8-10 cases have come to light where the devotees were looted online through fake websites.

“On May 31 also, we received an identical complaint from a Jaipur-based person who was also cheated through the same fake portal,” he said.

SGPC has posted a notice on its official website www.sgpcsarai.com alerting the devotees against the fraud sites. “The booking has to be done only through our official website which issues the receipt after accepting the payment which is only between Rs 500 to Rs 1,100 for various sarais. We never ask for any payment through QR code or online transaction link from any other platform,” he said.

He said that the matter has been brought to the notice of the Amritsar police.

“On our end, our IT team’s investigation revealed that the web portal was being run somewhere from Ayodhya. As one dial the given number, they never pick but respond only through WhatsApp call or chat. After winning over the caller’s confidence, they give them the QR code or online payment link only to usurp money. Their bank account was under the name of ‘Saragarhi Sarai’, which has now been freezed after we approached the concerned bank. Yet, the culprits were still out of reach .The location mentioned of their office in Amritsar, too, never existed,” he said.

He added that earlier also, another bogus website bharatibiz.com prevailed which also used to commit online frauds in the name of booking accommodation at Saragarhi Sarai.

Amritsar Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Alam Vijay Singh said that the complaint from the SGPC has been received and the investigation is on to nab the culprits.