What's the fraud-free way to pay for an unrendered service?

Boston_Harry

Shalomaste!

I'm doing my homework on places to stay in the Delhi/New Delhi area, and one guy, after a couple of days of corresponding, wrote a letter to me, of which I have included a small portion of it below. Does this look legitimate to you? How should I reserve this room without getting cheated?

Here's the portion of the letter:
------------------------------------------------------------
.
.
.

"Should you desire to book the booking amount can transferred using the following banking details:
A/c Name – XXX (P) Ltd
A/C No.-XXX
BANK NAME- ICICI BANK
XXX
CORRESPONDING BANK- J.P.MORGAN CHASE,
NEW YORK
A/C NO. of CORRES. BANK- XXX
SWIFT CODE- XXX


The accomodation is offered on a first come first serve basis.



Best regards
XXX
XXX (P) Ltd
New Delhi
+91-11-xxxx-xxxx"

Moderator note: X'ed out some more details.

shashank.aggarwal

whats in it that make you suspicious ??

Even of the person had some wrong intent then also this is normal banking details, and I assume you are the one who has gone wrong by posting their account number on a internet forum ?

All in all, this is not much info to tell if it is legitimate or not. Any person would ask you to transfer the money in a similar fashion.

Btw, where exactly is the hotel located ?

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edwardseco

I am going to suggest this be edited. Identity theft is too common these days..

machadinha

Yes. Consider it done, see above.

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capt_mahajan

Glad the bank details got edited.

This is a perfectly legitimate way of transferring funds.

Whether the business the guy is in is legitimate or not, or whether he will provide the service he claims, that is what the OP needs to figure out.

The only way to ensure you are not cheated is not to pay an advance for any hotel room, or, indeed, any service. That is not always feasible, though.

spicetrekker

This is the only way to transfer funds. I have personally used this. In any case you are not giving out any of your details. YOu take his bank account details and Swift code (used internationally) to your bank which would then based on your instructions credit the amount to the payee's account.

machadinha

I was also wondering how else would you expect to transfer some money. It's gotta happen somehow, right?

If those folks are legit, who's to say. I usually just wash up at their door, but that's just my travel mode, and it may well involve some hassles of its own. At least they gave you all their details, so if those are correct (which would be the only way for them to receive the money) they'd be theoretically traceable. How feasible a project that would be if it comes down to it is a different question.

Are we talking about a hotel room or some apartment business, btw? I seem to remember you were thinking of moving over there, but I may be wrong. If it's about some long-term deal I guess some natural caution and double-checking wouldn't go amiss.

Aishah

Electronic transfer is now (at long last I might add - only this last year have we had it here) a fact of life in India. This is a perfectly normal procedure as other posters have indicated. If you are transferring a holding deposit, I can't see anything incorrect in what you have received by way of letter. Swift no. is also a normal procedure, used for quick identification when transferring from outside India. I have used exactly the same procedures for transferring money from another country to here, including Swift No. There would only be some doubt if the money to be transferred was far in excess of your expectations!

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