A Punjab sessions court judge, who was visiting Bengaluru, was duped of âč12,000 after a staff member in the Criminal Investigation Department shared a fake contact number sourced from Google.
According to the complaint, the judge on September 2 contacted the office of Deputy Inspector General (CID) seeking help to book a room at the State-run Kumara Krupa Guest House. The Personal Assistant of a senior police officer, instead of checking with the government guest house directly, searched online and passed on a number that turned out to be fraudulent.
Trusting the source, the judge transferred âč12,000 as advance payment, only to discover on arrival on Saturday that no booking had been made, and the phone number was switched off.
The incident has caused embarrassment to the Police Department as well as the State government, with the victim being an official guest from the judiciary.
Senior police officers admitted to the lapse, noting that fraudsters often create fake websites and contact numbers in the name of hotels and guest houses. The Central division Cyber Crime police on Saturday, based on the complaint, registered an FIR and have launched a probe.
Published â September 08, 2025 09:27 pm IST
