Visiting Kedarnath holy shrine serves as a dream for everyone, especially for adventure lovers, as it is a beautiful location. Moreover, its enchanting history attracts a plethora of people, making them visit the shrine just once. Nestled at an altitude of 3583 meters above sea level amidst snow-clad mountains, offers the most challenging trek known as Kedarnath trek to adventure lovers. Reach Gaurikund via some vehicle, as till Gaurikund last motorable road is there. After that, all devotees need to trek to reach the holy shrine.
However, the trekking route is somewhat lengthy along with a stiff and tough slope. And, this fact makes the shrine inaccessible for numerous pilgrims. So, to help these pilgrims who can’t trek for some reason, the Indian Government came up with helicopter services to make their journey easy and alluring. And, these services operate from three varying locations at base camp. Every year this service enables the devotees to reach their dream destination within minutes smoothly.
But, some started to take advantage of this loophole and started to scam pilgrims who are unable to book online heli tickets. Amidst this spiritual valley, there lies a shadow of deceit that scams people for heli services. And, recently Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) uncovered 35 fake websites that scam pilgrims.
Scam unveiled
As the Char Dham Yatra originates in Uttarakhand, pilgrims from all over the country wait for booking of helicopter tickets for visiting the holy shrine. Unfortunately, this excitement of pilgrims is destroyed by heli services scam via fake websites, resulting in suspicious activities. These sorts of websites attract pilgrims with certain attractive packages that offer smooth travel to the shrine. It would be better to opt for trekking under guidance of Skyhike to stay away from such frauds. Let’s unveil step-by-step information of this fraud along with precautions to take while booking helicopter tickets.
Mode of operation
The operation mode of scammers is highly cunning, as they replicate interfaces of legal helicopter services, and use similar domain names just to confuse the devotees. The fraudsters make use of fake IDs in making fake websites for heli service. Moreover, they possess whatsapp API integration, enabling the scammers to contact the devotee who wish to make use of this service.
To prove their authenticity, fraudsters display their fake ID and capture the attention of the devotee for ticket booking. Apart from this, scammers provide their fake bank account details and eventually close the account as soon as the devotee deposits the money. And, it takes time for the devotees to recognize that they have been entrapped into a deceitful scam.
Precautions while booking tickets
To avoid falling into such scams, it becomes essential to book helicopter tickets only via the official website of IRCTC. This serves as an authorized yet legal platform for heli services, and if any other website claims to provide similar services should be neglected, as it could be fake. Moreover, if during ticket booking you come across fake heli services, then immediately inform STF via authenticated source and report the fraudsters.
Conclusion
Char Dham Yatra boasts off its spirituality, offering a sacred journey amidst the magnificent Himalayas. Yet, amidst the tranquil location, there are also scams occurring on a wide scale, especially of heli services. To avoid all this, you require to remain united and informed against such activities. This all could happen with the help of the best trekking company in India, as it helps you to embark an adventurous trail along with various other services.
