Gujarat Police Nab 2 for Creating 126 Fake Temple Websites, Duping 21,985 Devotees

Gandhinagar: The Gandhinagar Cyber Centre of Excellence has arrested two alleged members of a gang accused of running 126 fake websites of religious destinations across India and defrauding 21,985 people.

The prime accused, Vicky Kumar Gupta, a Delhi-based BTech graduate in Computer Science, allegedly created all 126 websites over the past six to eight months, including 41 targeting religious destinations in Gujarat. His alleged associate, Rajasthan resident Shailesh Saini, operated 21 of the fraudulent websites.

The gang allegedly targeted devotees looking to book temple visits, hotels, ashrams and other religious services. In Gujarat, the fake websites covered destinations including Somnath, Dwarka, Girnar, Bhuj, Palitana, Junagadh, Patan, Gandhinagar and Sarangpur.

The gang also created fraudulent websites targeting religious destinations in Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

Investigators said Gupta frequently changed domain names and mobile numbers linked to the websites to evade detection and make it difficult for police to trace the operation.

Police found that Saini was operating 21 Gujarat-focused fake websites, including eight related to Sarangpur, offering temple visit and hotel booking services.

The cyber team is now tracing the gang’s financial transactions and investigating the involvement of other persons in creating and operating the fake websites. DeshGujarat