Delhi: Woman dupes 5-star hotel of over Rs 5 lakh through 'fake' UPI payments
Jan 17, 2024
New Delhi [India], January 17 : A woman was arrested for allegedly staying at a Delhi hotel for 15 days and trying to dupe the hotel for an outstanding bill of over Rs 5 lakh, police said on Wednesday.
According to the Delhi police, the accused woman Jhansi Rani Samuel checked in at Hotel Pullman in Aerocity on December 30, 2023. She was staying at room number 1161 for 15 days by making fake UPI payments with an app.
Hotel officials informed that the accused presented false bank transactions for the services in the hotel and duped the hotel for Rs 5,58,8176.
The hotel discovered that the accused was using a fraudulent payment method. She presented payments with the ICICI Bank UPI app, but upon payment reconciliation, it was discovered that the hotel account had not received any payment.
While verifying with the hotel spa it was also revealed that the guest had used facilities worth Rs 2,11,708 with a fake identity of a person named Isha Dave. The transaction for the same had been reconciled with the finance and was not reflected in the bank accounts of the hotel.
Upon informing the accused, the woman tried to flee from the hotel lobby. Upon stopping her (by lady security staff) she started manhandling by scratching their hands and hurled abuses while trying to leave the premises.
Subsequently, police were notified about the incident through the police helpline.
As per police, "PCR call was received at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport Police Station regarding a woman cheating the hotel of outstanding bills."
Shortly after police reached Hotel Pullman where the complainant, the Designation Assistant front office manager was present along with the hotel staff and the accused.
A preliminary inquiry by the police showed that prima facie the offence was made out.
Police then interrogated the accused woman and took her into custody at the police station.
Based on the hotel's complaint, a case was registered against the woman on January 13 under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and she was arrested. The accused woman was later released on bail.
"An investigation into the matter is underway, further details into the matter are awaited," informed police.
