Mumbai woman gives her passport for UK visa stamping, she gets Rs 1 lakh hotel bill from Ireland

Mumbai: In an incident of alleged identity theft, the passport of a young woman in Mumbai, which was submitted to for stamping for a UK visa, was used to book a hotel in Ireland. The 29-year-old woman came to know about the incident when she received a bill of 1234.38 EUR (approx Rs 1,05,000) from a hotel in Dublin.

Upon getting the recipe in the email, she contacted the hotel chain. She was informed that her passport number had been used for making the online reservation from November 27 to December 1. She had submitted her passport to a private visa facilitation firm in Mumbai.

The woman approached the Mumbai police and an FIR has been registered at the Samta Nagar police station. She claimed in her



complaint that her identity was misused in Ireland while her passport was submitted for visa stamping. However, the complainant said monetary demand was made by the hotel.

The woman, whose parents reside in Mumbai, is planning to migrate to the UK for higher studies. For the past three years, the young woman has been studying and working in the Netherlands. She reached India for visa-related work on November 10, police officials said quoting her complaint.

The police officials have launched an investigation into the incident. However, the visa facilitation firm VFS Global refused to comment on the incident. “We can’t comment on individual cases without having access to concrete details,” it said.