# Two held for 126 AI-made fake religious websites duping 22,000 2026-08-13T22:55:49+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Gujarat Police's Cyber Centre of Excellence has arrested two men allegedly behind a network of 126 fake websites impersonating religious sites, dharamshalas and hotels across 11 states. The accused, Vikikumar Gupta from Delhi and Shailesh Saini from Rajasthan, used AI-generated images to make portals look genuine and collected advance payments for room bookings, puja and VIP darshan. Police say 21,985 people were cheated, with the fraud running into crores of rupees. The websites targeted major pilgrimage centres including Somnath, Dwarka, Tirupati, Katra and Shirdi. Victims only discovered the fraud when their bookings did not exist. Investigators have found over 70 complaints on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. Two special police teams have been deployed outside Gujarat to trace domain purchasers and money trails. ## Coverage - indiatoday.in - assamtribune.com Tags: AI fraud, Cyber crime, Gujarat cybercrime, Gujarat Police, religious websites, temple booking scam Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/ai-fake-websites-of-126-temples-dupe-22000-devotees/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/ai-fake-websites-of-126-temples-dupe-22000-devotees/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.