A Hyderabad man has lost Rs two lakh to online fraudsters who offered him a cruise trip, the police said.
The victim was looking for a dream vacation and came across a website claiming to provide cruise trips to Kochi, Lakshadweep, and Mumbai.
Trusting the website, he booked a cruise for four people and paid an advance of Rs 23,680.
As he could not transfer the amount at once, the fraudsters asked him to make multiple payments.
Later, on the excuse of arranging Lakshadweep permit letters and additional charges for two children, the accused collected more money in several instalments.
They repeatedly cited technical issues and promised refunds at checkout to convince him to continue making payments.
Later, the fraudsters falsely claimed payment failures, cancelled the booking without any valid reason, and demanded Rs 48,500 as cancellation charges, assuring a full refund, the police said.
The victim was contacted through WhatsApp by persons posing as cruise customer care executives. In total, he lost Rs 2,42,488.
Police have registered a case and are investigating the fraud.
Police have advised the public to book cruise packages only through official websites or authorised travel agents. They also adviced victims of cyber fraud to report the crime immediately by calling the 1930 helpline.
