Manama: Malayali expatriates who are already anxious about the surging airfares now have to be wary of scamsters trying to loot them by offering air tickets at cheaper rates. These fraudsters have been luring people by promising payment services including the ones that are to be mandatorily paid by expatriates, using credit cards. Even though one of them has been arrested due to the efforts of a Malayali who fell prey to this scam, many more have lost huge sums of money.
Last month, a Thiruvananthapuram native lost around 1,300 dinars after a group approached him, ‘offering’ to buy the family air tickets for 640 dinars, which cost 740 dinars. It was through a friend that he got this offer. The scamsters said that they would purchase tickets using the credit card of a prominent bank in India and he needed to give an equivalent sum in Bahraini dinar.
As per the contract, the group purchased air tickets for the family, which cost 100 dinars less than the actual airfares. Fake tickets and PNR number The tickets were purchased two months before the journey. Even though he was given ‘confirm’ tickets, he couldn’t find the tickets when he checked the PNR number online.
Later, he went directly to the airline’s office to check the status of the tickets. It was only then he realised that the group had cheated him by providing fake air tickets with fake PNR numbers. He immediately called the Malayali who had purchased the tickets for him; however, his calls went unattended.
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