Ahmedabad — What was meant to be a thrilling safari through Gujarat’s Gir National Park has, for many wildlife enthusiasts, turned into a cautionary tale about India’s evolving cybercrime landscape.
The Gandhinagar Cyber Centre of Excellence has busted a nationwide racket that exploited tourists booking safaris not just in Gir, but also in Kaziranga, Tadoba, Jim Corbett, and Bandhavgarh — some of India’s most visited wildlife reserves.
The scam, uncovered earlier this month, involved cybercriminals who created an artificial shortage of safari slots on official government websites, then resold the same permits at inflated rates through fake portals that closely mimicked legitimate ones.
“The accused booked genuine slots in advance to create a fake scarcity, then sold duplicate permits to desperate tourists,” said SP Rajdeepsinh Jhala of the Gandhinagar Cyber Cell. “It was a digital black market built on people’s love for wildlife.”
Fake Shortages, Real Scams: The Modus Operandi
The scheme was meticulously designed. The gang — led by Alpeshkumar Bhalani of Ahmedabad, and Sultan Baloch and Ejaz Shaikh of Junagadh — allegedly purchased large blocks of safari tickets through the official system. Once bookings appeared full, they launched fake government-like websites offering “guaranteed slots” at premium rates.
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Tourists, misled by the authentic-looking domains and logos, paid inflated sums, receiving fraudulent PDF confirmations and fake e-receipts. Investigators recovered over 8,650 bogus confirmation emails and 10,278 forged receipts, revealing the scale of the deception.
More arrests followed in Delhi, where two additional suspects — Ajaykumar Chaudhary and Arvind Upadhyay, originally from Bihar — were caught running operations linked to the same network.
Cyber experts said the gang’s approach mirrored an emerging trend in digital impersonation crimes, where cloned websites exploit public trust in government portals.
Nationwide Web of Deception
The fraud went far beyond Gujarat. Investigators discovered that the same group had targeted national parks across India, particularly those with heavy tourist traffic during peak seasons.
“The fake sites offered safaris in multiple states, even collecting deposits for luxury stays near wildlife reserves,” said a senior officer involved in the probe. “They had built a full-fledged parallel ecosystem of deception.”
The Gandhinagar Cyber Centre has since issued a nationwide advisory urging tourists to verify website URLs and book safaris only through official government portals. Authorities are also coordinating with state forest departments and the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (1930) to track similar fraudulent domains.
Law enforcement agencies estimate that over 1,200 fake Gir Safari permits were sold in the past six months alone. Some of the money trails reportedly lead to digital wallets and cryptocurrency accounts, complicating recovery efforts.
Tourism in the Age of Cybercrime
India’s wildlife tourism industry, worth more than ₹20,000 crore annually, has increasingly become a soft target for digital fraud. The ease of online booking — once a sign of modernization — has opened new vulnerabilities for scammers who exploit travelers’ urgency and trust.
Wildlife advocates warn that such scams damage the credibility of conservation tourism. “If people start fearing fraud every time they book a safari, the entire ecosystem — from guides to local communities — suffers,” said a senior official from Gujarat’s Forest Department.
Experts believe the Gir Safari fraud underscores the urgent need for cybersecurity audits of all government booking portals, including those run by tourism and forest departments.
“Scammers no longer need to hack — they just need to imitate,” said a cybersecurity analyst in Ahmedabad. “When fake websites look real, even tech-savvy travelers fall for the trap.”
A Lesson in Digital Vigilance
For now, the accused remain in custody, and authorities are expanding the investigation to trace money flows and potential accomplices in other states. The Cyber Centre of Excellence has also recommended deploying AI-based verification systems and QR-coded e-permits to prevent replication of fake receipts.
As the digital frontier of tourism expands, the Gir Safari scam stands as a stark reminder: the wildest predators aren’t always in the forest — sometimes, they’re online.
