Team Goemkarponn
ANJUNA: Swift action by Anjuna police saved an elderly couple from Calangute from losing ₹6 lakh to a Delhi-based holiday tour company that tried to cheat them through fake gift voucher and holiday package offers.
According to police sources, the incident traces back to October 2024, when the couple had purchased a new car.
In April this year, they received a call from a woman claiming they had been selected as “lucky customers” and had won a complimentary gift voucher.
The caller repeatedly urged them to collect the voucher in person at a hotel in Anjuna. Eventually, in the last week of April, the couple visited the venue.
At the hotel, they were met not by the woman on the phone but by two men who immediately began pitching an expensive holiday package instead of handing over the promised voucher.
The men described a plan offering stays in luxury hotels across India, asking for a ₹26,000 membership fee plus a ₹25,000 monthly payment.
Believing the package might benefit their visiting relatives from abroad, the couple paid ₹25,000 on the spot. The suspects also briefly took the complainant’s credit card before returning it, but they never delivered the promised gift voucher.
In May, while preparing for a trip to Dubai to visit their children, the couple tried unsuccessfully to contact the company for flight tickets. Receiving no reply, they booked tickets themselves and travelled.
While abroad, they discovered that ₹5.75 lakh had been fraudulently withdrawn from their bank account. They immediately lodged an online complaint with their bank, and on returning to Goa in early June, they followed up with a written complaint. When there was no resolution, they approached Anjuna police.
Acting promptly, the police managed to freeze the company’s bank account holding the transferred funds. Once the account was frozen, police received a call from the company offering to refund the money.
On Saturday, a representative of the tour company visited Anjuna police station and handed over ₹6 lakh. The relieved couple thanked the Anjuna police for their decisive action that helped them recover the entire amount.
