Retired Colonel Falls Victim To Cyber Fraud; Loses ₹60K While Planning Kerala Trip In Indore

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A retired army colonel lost nearly Rs 60,000 in a cyber fraud while attempting to plan a trip to Kerala. The incident occurred after he called a fake customer care number listed online, believing it to be associated with a travel website.

Ashwini Sharma (68), a resident of Silver Spring and retired colonel, lodged a complaint at the Tejaji Nagar police station cyber desk, stating that on May 5, he searched for the MakeMyTrip customer care number on Google. The number he found connected him to a fraudster who identified himself as Manish Kumar from MakeMyTrip.

The caller explained various travel packages and asked Sharma to make an online payment of Rs 59,700. After the payment was made, Sharma received no booking confirmation. When he tried to follow up, he realised he had been duped.

Additional DCP (Zone-1) Alok Kumar Sharma confirmed that the police have frozen the recipient's bank account, and an investigation is underway.

He also issued a warning to the public, urging caution when searching for company contact numbers online. “Cyber fraudsters often post fake customer service numbers on search engines to trap unsuspecting users,” he said.