Man booked an OYO hotel that does not even exist. He is not alone

A man from Mumbai, with 8 others, went to Puducherry on December 24, 2021. Just like everyone, he prepared well for his trip. He searched for a hotel and booked one for his friends. Little did he know then that he had made a booking for something that does not even exist.

1. FAKE HOTEL AT PUDUCHERRY

Abhishant Pant booked OYO 74612 Royal Plaza Boarding & Lodging in Puducherry. Late night, a total of 9 people were about to reach the hotel they had booked. For a while, they kept looking and around 11 pm they found that there was no such hotel. They had made a booking for a fake hotel.

In a LinkedIn post he mentioned that consumers have been complaining about the hotel for the past year and still OYO lists it on the website. After some 40+ calls, he had to give up and stayed the night in some other hotel named Corbelli.

Well, you might be stunned reading this. But seems like this is not the first time when something like this happened. Many people commented on Abhishant’s post and said, “Something similar happened with me.”

2. PAID RS 72K FOR A FAKE VILLA

Recently, Mumbai Police have arrested two brothers for fake bookings of hotels, private bungalows and villas. Avinash Jadwani, 26 years old, and his younger brother Aakash, 21 years old, duped 12 people with fake bookings.

Out of the 12 complaints, one of them was a 39-year-old woman who paid Rs 72,000 for a villa for two nights on December 27, 2021. She even received a confirmation mail. Later, the number she called for booking went switched off. She then contacted the owner of the villa and got to know that she was conned.

2 men posted fraudulent ads for a villa & claimed advances to book. The scam was unearthed when a man contacted the real owner & reported to cyber policeWith 12 cases registered against the accused, they r now spending a good time with us lodged in a lockup #TheVillaVillains pic.twitter.com/5YNtWjUF80

— Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) January 1, 2022

Now, these unusual events tell us the importance of checking reviews before booking. You should also make a call at the property before the travel dates.

3. A FAKE, TOP-RATED RESTAURANT

Not just in India, some in London opened a fake restaurant in 2017. And it was the top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor.

Oobah Butler used to post fake reviews on TripAdvisor for $13. This gave him the idea to move from fake reviews to a fake restaurant. He turned his shed into London’s top-rated restaurant. Not for real, but online on TripAdvisor. He named it The Shed at Dulwich and made it an appointment-only restaurant.

The guy was totally insane. He bought a domain, made the website, created fake pictures of food with shaving cream and food colouring, got the address registered, made a menu, designed a logo, paid people to drop fake reviews - basically did everything for his FAKE restaurant.

What happened next was something he never imagined. His phone kept buzzing for bookings and slowly crawled to the number one position on TripAdvisor. Later, he hosted a genuine opening night at his shed with some frozen meals.

Have you ever made bookings for something fake? Tell us in the comments below.