Two Malaysian ‘Couchsurfers’ cheated by host in India
NEW DELHI: Two Malaysian tourists who used the online home-sharing network, Couchsurfing, were cheated by their host in India.
The Hindustan Times reported that they told police the Delhi man they stayed with took hundreds of dollars in foreign currency from them and fraudulently used their credit cards to pay his bills.
One of the tourists, Wong Hwa Yo said they gave the man, identified as Rishabh, US$1,000 (RM4,420/67,500 rupees) to exchange into Indian currency notes but he returned only 30,000 rupees (RM1,967).
He said Rishabh cited problems in changing money in the wake of India recently scrapping two high denomination notes.
“We gave him 10,000 rupees (RM656) in scrapped Indian currency notes, but he returned only 2,500 rupees (RM164) and kept the remaining money,” Wong said in his complaint.
After the duo demanded for their money, the man told them to leave and refused to take their phone calls.
The Malaysians arrived in Delhi on Nov 27, and used the Couchsurfing website, a global network that helps members find “free home stays and experience the world in a way money can’t buy”.
The experience was not guaranteed to be always pleasant and the website does caution its members to be careful when choosing their hosts. — Bernama
