Risky Face of Fake Travel Agents in India
Fake Passport, Fake Visa, Fake Ticket Fraud
Fake travel agents have maintained their network in many states in the country. Cases of illegal sending abroad keep coming to the fore in the country. Fake travel agents keep cheating people who want to go abroad in different ways. After the Corona period, the business of fake travel agents is booming. The period of about two years after the Karona period has been financially difficult for every person. In this, poor and middle class families had to face more problems. Fake travel agents are taking advantage of such. People are being lured to earn good money by going abroad. Although people wanting to go abroad have been cheated by fake travel agents in the past, but after the Corona period, it has gained a lot of momentum. Advertisements are given in news papers and social media by fake travel agents to lure people into their trap. These days, social platforms like Facebook, YouTube are full of advertisements of fake travel agents. Various types of greed are given in advertisement.
In countries like Canada, America, Australia, Singapore, Portugal, along with getting work, good salary and other facilities are assured. When a person going abroad contacts on the phone after seeing the advertisement, he is asked to visit the office very soon by luring him to get the visa. When a person going abroad goes to the office of such fake travel agents, beautiful girls are present to welcome him and make him understand the whole system of visa. Dreams of a good job and good salary abroad are shown by fake travel agents and office staff. He is fully assured by sweet words that he will go abroad very soon. Special care will be taken to ensure that he does not face any problem there. Fake travel agents and office staff take huge amount of money by making many false promises to that person. Many fake travel agents do fraud by giving fake visas, even fake tickets to foreigners. Foreigners going to the airport find out that the visa they are holding is fake. The ticket given by the travel agent is also fake. In some cases, fraudulent travel agents even get fake passports made.
A 40-year-old criminal in Hyderabad was caught by South Zone Task Force officials with four fake Indian passports, multiple fake visas and fake job offer letters. Sikandar Khan, a travel agent from Kalapathar, was duping gullible youths by taking thousands of rupees from each of them by assuring them of jobs abroad. He has been arrested in visa fraud cases at Falaknuma, RGI Airport, Shamshabad and Kalapathar police stations.
likewise The police have registered 62 more FIRs against travel agents for duping residents of Haryana and sending them abroad illegally. In May, 73 cases were filed under similar charges following complaints of 76 people being deported by the US. 22 FIRs have been registered in Karnal, 12 in Kaithal, 11 in Ambala, nine in Kurukshetra and 4 in Panipat. In the name of sending abroad in the country, news of fraud of fake travel agents keeps getting published. Huge amount is taken by giving false assurances to gullible youth to get jobs abroad.
Two travel agents from Haryana and Punjab were arrested on Friday for allegedly making fake Canadian travel visas for a Kurukshetra woman in exchange for Rs 10 lakh a year ago. The 26-year-old woman could not fly to Canada because her visa was fake. The woman said in her complaint that she was a victim of fraud and her father-in-law had paid agents over Rs 10 lakh last year after promising her a bright future in Canada. “I didn’t go to Canada last year, because I suspected that the Canadian visa ticket was fake. This year, I got an education invitation from Ukraine University, and I was flying legally when I was stopped. The authorities made him a no-fault accused of having a fake stamped Canadian visa after he got a fake Canada visa. Advocates Prabhakar Tripathi and Amit Shukla, appearing for the victim in the Andheri court, were released on bail arguing that she is the victim and not the accused. “The woman is a victim of fraud and forgery, perpetrated by travel agents who duped her of Rs 10 lakh and made a fake Canadian visa stamp on her passport.
In the year 2021, the police of Ludhiana City of Punjab has registered a case against 184 fake travel agents in 83 cases on Friday. This is the first time the police have acted on this scale. In a special operation, the police formed 45 teams to work on complaints against those who duped people on the pretext of sending them abroad. After this campaign, fear of police was seen among fake travel agents for some time. At that time, quite mathematically, fake travel agents closed their offices forever. After a few months, again the fraudulent travel agents started the business of fraud. Now days, cases of fraud by fake travel agents are coming to the fore. Many fake travel agents do their work in such a dangerous way, they have hired 3-4 bouncers. When a person who had been a victim of fraud went to the office to get his money back, this bouncer was also beaten up badly. It seems Fake travel agents have taken the form of a dangerous mafia in the country.
