Ahmedabad: Planning a religious trip to Palitana didn’t go well for a family in the city, as they fell victim to an online accommodation booking scam and lost around Rs 8,000.

According to a complaint filed by 26-year-old Surbhi Sanghavi at Anandnagar Police Station, she and her brother Riddhesh Sanghvi were searching online for a dharamshala in Palitana on February 7. During the online search, they found a website named “suntarbhavanpalitana.in”, which displayed a mobile number for bookings.

When Riddhesh called the mobile number, the person on the other end claimed to be speaking from the booking office of Suntar Bhavan Dharamshala. He told Riddhesh that two rooms for three days would cost Rs 7,800 and sent a QR code for payment. Trusting the caller, the family transferred the booking amount via Google Pay (UPI).

However, when the family asked for a booking receipt, the caller denied receiving the payment and subsequently asked for their debit card PIN and Google Pay PIN, raising the family’s suspicion. They then contacted relatives who had previously stayed at the real Suntar Bhavan Dharamshala and found out that both the website and the mobile number were fake.

Following this, the family approached the police, who have registered a case under Section 318(4) of the BNS and Section 66(d) of the IT Act. DeshGujarat