A Pennsylvania woman posing as a travel agent scammed more than 80 people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of airline tickets and hotel reservations “to nowhere.”
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office says Christine Hayes, 38, tricked people into buying $400,000 worth of vacation deals, including one family who booked a trip to Walt Disney World as a gift to a relative battling cancer, according to NBC News.
“She misled hardworking people by promising incredible deals for dream vacations and then failed to deliver,” Shapiro said in a statement.
Between July 2017 and February 2019, the AG’s office said Hayes allegedly used aliases to sell fake travel packages. Her victims believed they were going on trips with their friends and family, only to discover “they had tickets to nowhere, their money stolen by this fake travel agent,” Shapiro said.
Hayes initially bought clients real tickets and then later played something akin to a Ponzi scheme, taking credit card information for one client and purchase tickets for other people.
The scheme began to fall apart after she scammed the group with the family member who had cancer.
“After the victim became concerned that the trip was not actually booked, Hayes tried to buy herself time by claiming she, herself, had breast cancer,” according to the AG’s office.
Hayes is facing at least 12 charges, including theft, identity theft and access device fraud.
It’s sadly not the first time a fake agent has done this. Earlier this year, a Florida woman was scammed by a fake agency, a British agent was accused of scamming and a Louisiana woman was sentenced to nine years in prison for scamming travelers over $80,000.
All of these incidents serve as another reminder of why it’s important to always work with a trusted travel agent.
A great place to begin your search is at TravelSense.org, as it connects travelers with licensed advisors from around the globe.