MUMBAI: A 29-year-old woman has lodged a police complaint after her passport number was given to a hotel in Ireland by an unknown person for making a reservation in her name. She learnt about it when the hotel mailed her a receipt. She told the police she was in Mumbai and that her passport had gone for stamping for a UK visa the entire time that her identity was misused in Ireland.
The Samta Nagar police have registered an FIR. The woman said in her statement to police that she has been studying and working in the Netherlands for the past three years. Her parents reside in Mumbai. On November 10, she came to India for visa-related work.
On December 1, while she was at her home in Mumbai, the woman received an email from a hotel chain. In the mail, the hotel thanked her for her stay at their establishment in Dublin, Ireland, and sent her a receipt of 1234.38 EUR (approx Rs 1,05,000). She was taken aback and dialled the phone number given in the email. A hotel executive answered and told her that her passport number had been used for making an online reservation from November 27 to December 1.
The woman said she wanted to go to the UK for higher studies and her passport had gone for visa stamping between November 25 and December 1. VFS Global said they manage the administrative and non judgemental aspects of visa application. “We can’t comment on individual cases without having access to concrete details,” it said. No monetary demand was made by the hotel.