Mumbai: A 45-year-old devotee from Borivali fell victim to a scam where he was deceived of ₹51,765 by scammers posing as sellers of helicopter tickets for travel from Vaishnav Devi to Katra. The Borivali police have registered a case of cheating.
According to the police, the complainant Amrish Naik, an employee with a private company had planned a tour to Jammu and Kashmir. On February 10, Naik searched for helicopter tickets from Vaishnavv Devi to Katra and came across ‘helicopterbooking.org’ website, where he found a mobile number. After registering his number on the site, he received a message providing information about the helicopter, timing, routes, and more.
Later, Naik received a call from an unknown number, where the caller claimed to be an employee of a helicopter booking company. Naik was told to provide information via WhatsApp and instructed to send ₹51,765 immediately. Naik transferred the amount via Gpay from his ICICI Bank in two transactions, expecting ticket booking confirmation, but he did not receive it.
When he contacted the same number, the fraudster claimed there was an issue and requested the full amount in a single transaction for the booking to be confirmed. Naik, suspecting fraud, asked for the return of ₹51,765, but the fraudster avoided it.
Realising it was a scam, Naik filed a case against an unidentified person under sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
