Cyber police arrested two employees of a local IT-enabled services firm on Friday night for allegedly defrauding their German client of approximately Rs 10 lakh through unauthorized manipulation of travel vouchers.
The accused, Goutam Kumar Marndi (23) and Pitamber Hembram (24), both residents of Sector-19, were employed by a company providing customer support services to the German firm.
According to Serofina Xess, IIC of the Cyber Police Station, Rourkela, the duo exploited their legitimate access to the German company’s online portal. They created unauthorized travel tickets using vouchers meant to compensate customers for cancelled bookings. These tickets were then sold at a 40% discount through WhatsApp and Telegram channels.
Investigations revealed that Marndi and Hembram collaborated with external parties to distribute these discounted tickets, causing significant financial losses to the German company, which operates in over 43 countries.
The fraud was uncovered on May 2, 2025, when the German company detected unauthorized leakage and misuse of voucher codes. Police recovered multiple WhatsApp accounts linked to the scam from the accused’s mobile phones.
The accused have been taken into custody as further investigations continue.
