Retired Army Colonel Loses Rs 60,000 in Online Travel Scam in Indore

A retired Army colonel from Indore lost nearly Rs 60,000 in a cyber fraud while trying to book a trip to Kerala.

The victim, Ashwini Sharma (68), a resident of Silver Spring, had searched for MakeMyTrip’s customer care number on Google on May 5. Unfortunately, the number he found was fake. When he called it, a man claiming to be Manish Kumar from MakeMyTrip answered and offered him several travel packages.

Believing it to be genuine, Sharma paid Rs 59,700 online for a package. However, he never received any booking confirmation. When he tried to contact the number again, he realised he had been cheated.

He then filed a complaint at the Tejaji Nagar police station’s cyber desk. Additional DCP (Zone-1) Alok Kumar Sharma confirmed the fraud and said that the recipient’s bank account has been frozen. A detailed investigation is ongoing.

The police have also issued a warning to the public. “Be careful while searching for customer care numbers online. Cyber fraudsters often post fake numbers on search engines to cheat people,” said the officer.

Authorities advise verifying contact details through official websites only.