After recently returning from a vacation in Switzerland, Archana Puran Singh and her family jetted off to Dubai for another holiday. As usual, Archana was accompanied by her husband, Parmeet Sethi, and their two sons, Aryamann and Ayushmaan. They’d booked an indoor skydiving session on the first day, but they discovered that they had been scammed. Aryamann had booked their session on a fake website, losing thousands of rupees. Archana was shocked that such a scam could be conducted in a place like Dubai, which is considered to be much safer than India.
Upon reaching the venue, the person behind the counter told Archana that she doesn’t have any booking under their name. She discovered that they’d booked their passes on a fake website when she saw that they’d selected a special Ramadan discount, even though it wasn’t the month of Ramadan. “We have been scammed, because the website we had booked our passes on isn’t the real website. Did we just get scammed in Dubai?” a shocked Archana said, as Parmeet looked on gravely. “We’ve already paid, and the tickets weren’t cheap. Dubai mein humare paise doob gaye,” she joked, adding, “I never expected this in Dubai. They have such strict rules here, people are scared to break the law. In India, we’re always so careful about suspicious numbers and website.”
Aryamann, who booked the passes online, said that he had a bad feeling about it. “I can’t find the website I booked our tickets on. I did find it suspicious, because I booked the middle package for four minutes, but when I was checking out, it said two minutes. I thought it was a glitch. I’m so angry.” After a moment, however, he said that the scammer really did their job well. “Don’t encourage them, they’re public enemies,” Archana told him. Parmeet was disappointed at being scammed as well, and remarked that he’d even made a show about online scams called Hack Crime Online. “Whoever has scammed us, enjoy,” he said.
After Parmeet paid in cash for new tickets, they enjoyed a quick indoor skydiving session, and went to get a bite to eat. They tried out Alia Bhatt’s favourite dessert at a cafe, and then, as usual, Aryamann had a paneer dish at a fancy restaurant. Even in Switzerland, they made it a point to find a restaurant that had paneer dishes on the menu.
