Wanted to take my family of eight members to Lakshadweep in this December. Websites showed all tickets are full for December. I happened to visit https://visitlakshadweep.com/index.php as it pops up when I mention "Samudram package". This is where I first came in touch with its owner Abdul Salam. He assured me that he can give me seats from "emergency quota" of which he told me 15 were available. The condition was that I pay him the full amount immediately. He did not give the credit card option, but was ok with NEFT. I immediately transferred Rs1, 20, 000 on Sept 25, 2018. He confirmed the receipt through SMS, after I insisted for it. However, he did not issue me any receipt. I thought he will do it subsequently. But did not, even after 3-4 days. Then I received an email from Lakshadweep holidays asking me to send them the payment details for creating "exchange order". I replied to it saying I have done it already. Then onwards, I did not get any replies to my email asking for the receipt nor Abdul Salam was picking up my phone. Once he finally picked up the phone, he told me he is in Lakshadweep and will send it on the following day. Nothing happened, even after one week.
It was the 14th day after I made payment, and at the back of my mind, I was thinking, is Abdul Salam a fraud? I made a quick google check putting in his name and his company name. Shocked to see several posts claiming that he has cheated several people. I telephoned the government owned site on Lakshadweep tour packages and mentioned about Abdul Salam. I got a reply that "he is a number one fraud". "Do not make any payment for the reservations with him".
I whatsapped him about this concern and told him what I read about him in the internet, and asked him to refund my money. He seems to be regularly checking the messages, but intelligent enough to disable the blue tick, thus we never see any blue ticks. I came to know this, after I received his reply. In his reply, he brushed aside the internet comments, saying that it is his competitors trick.
I told him in clear words by email, to either pay my money within 24 hours or face a police complaint. That really worked and he promised to refund me the entire amount within 24 hours. Since then, he has transferred the entire amount within 24 hours.
In conclusion, I personally was not cheated, though he gave me times of anxious moments. He spoiled my December holiday though, by giving false promise. Extremely dubious and risky to deal with. Be careful!