Duo held for cheating star hotel of Rs 5 lakh

The accused were identified as S Mohammed Yasser Arafat (24) of Karur and S Manimaran (21) of Nagapattinam. On November 26, the duo approached the hotel on Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR) on the pretext of having a birthday bash.

They stayed at the hotel for a couple of days, consumed liquor and used the hotel’s car to travel around the city. While they paid the bill amount of Rs 5,36,362 using an international credit card and checked out, the hotel authorities realised that the money was not credited during an audit.

Based on a complaint, the Thoraipakkam police registered a case and secured the suspects. Investigation revealed that the duo cheated a few other hotels in a similar manner.

“They book a star hotel for some event and share their credit card numbers with the management. They claim that cash will get credited after 15 days as it is an international card. Later, they inform the hotel that the event has been cancelled and get the money reimbursed. In case the hotel doesn’t have reimbursement policy, they use their facilities,” said the police. They were arrested when they came to a hotel to claim reimbursement. The police said that the case might be transferred to the Central Crime Branch for further investigation.