LAHORE – Fraudulent online Kite Sales mar Basant festivities in provincial capital, leaving hundreds of customers in frustration. Basant brought Lahore together in anticipation, with residents eagerly looking forward to festival after nearly two decades of ban. Many paid hefty amounts to purchase kites and strings, unaware that fraudulent websites and scammers were exploiting the excitement under the watch of the Punjab government.
As crowds flocked to markets such as Mochi Gate, several online portals, including Lahorekites.com, attracted customers looking to avoid the rush. However, dozens of people who opted for online purchases ended up losing their money. Sellers reportedly failed to deliver the ordered items on time and later stopped responding to customer inquiries, apparently running off with the payments.
One customer told Daily Pakistan that he had placed an order for strings a week before festival and paid Rs27,000, providing screenshot of the online transaction. However, he received no response from the site, which is operated by Digi Pandaz Pakistan, owned by Ahmad Sameer Chaudhry. This is only one reported case, but Digi Pandaz Pakistan is believed to have defrauded hundreds of people, many of whom are now demanding legal action against Chaudhry, who is also the CEO of Akhzir Tech (Pvt) Ltd. and the founder of Digi Pandaz.
In addition to defrauding customers, Lahorekites.com and other scam portals inflated prices, just to get more and more money before going into dark. Kites that previously cost Rs500 were being sold for Rs1,800 per piece, exploiting people’s sentiments during the festival. Shockingly, some sites even introduced kite-flying certificates to lure buyers, making the scams appear well-organized.
Punjab administration attempted to regulate wholesale purchase of kites by introducing QR codes on kites and strings. However, netizens raised concerns that QR codes can easily be copied and pasted onto other kites, making it nearly impossible to track genuine products in the city.
With so many kite makers operating in Lahore, tracking legitimate sellers remains a major challenge. Citizens are urging Lahore Police and Lahore District Administration to investigate this matter, as even registered kite sellers are being impacted, and people continue to lose their money to fraudulent schemes.
Daily Pakistan contacted Digi Pandaz Pakistan and Lahorekites.com via their publicly listed contact numbers to request their version of this issue, but received no response.
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