Long Island journey agent accused of defrauding shoppers out of greater than $50,000

A Long Island journey agent is accused of defrauding individuals out of tens of hundreds of {dollars}.

Tavia Thomas, who police say operated as the only real journey agent of Destiny Travel, was not too long ago charged with grand larceny and scheme to defraud.

Tavia Thomas pleads not responsible to expenses

Investigators say in three totally different situations, Thomas is accused of amassing cash however by no means reserving journeys and never giving refunds, allegedly defrauding a number of individuals of a complete of $53,448.14.

According to a police report, on July 8, 2024, Thomas allegedly acquired a complete of $35,753.98 from 9 individuals who believed they had been buying tickets for a Royal Caribbean cruise departing from Bayonne.

Police stated when the victims arrived on the port, an worker informed them their tickets had been faux and that the cruise they booked didn’t exist.

About every week later, on July 16, 2024, Thomas allegedly acquired a complete of $7,660 from a number of individuals for a vacation spot wedding ceremony, however by no means booked the venues and didn’t present refunds.

Later that 12 months, in September, police stated Thomas acquired $10,034.16 from 51 individuals who had been reserving a seventy fifth birthday journey to the Dominican Republic, however she didn’t pay for the lodging and didn’t present refunds.

In courtroom Tuesday, Thomas pleaded not responsible. Her protection legal professional described the 47-year-old as a social employee who has two kids, cares for her mom who’s blind, and is within the means of adopting a child.

Prosecutors, nevertheless, identified a felony historical past.

Her subsequent courtroom look is scheduled for Thursday.

Victim says dream journey was a trip nightmare

West Babylon resident Rosalind Gross-Hall stated her household used Thomas as a journey agent to e book flights for about three to 4 years and by no means had any points, however when Gross-Hall tried to plan a cruise for her daughter’s commencement in July 2024, what was alleged to be a dream journey was a trip nightmare.

She stated Thomas supplied journey affirmation for his or her get together of 34, together with an itinerary by way of e mail.

Upon arrival to the port in New Jersey, nevertheless, Gross-Hall stated the cruise line could not discover any of their data.

“The employees of Royal Caribbean was doing the best that they could to help us, to do anything to make this easier because they kind of knew after a while that this was a scam,” Gross-Hall stated. “[Thomas] blamed it on everybody else but her, saying that it was their fault.”

The household instantly filed a police report.  

“It was just unbelievable. My daughters were so heartbroken,” Gross-Hall stated.

She was in a position to get a few of her a refund from her bank card firm; nevertheless, she stated her mother-in-law despatched her deposit via Zelle.

“So she never saw that money again,” Gross-Hall stated.

Gross-Hall stated she has since related with different individuals who say they’d an analogous expertise with Destiny Travel.

Now, a 12 months and a half later, she stated Thomas’ arrest is a reduction.

“We just didn’t want her to hurt anybody else,” she stated.

BBB provides tricks to keep protected

Destiny Travel will not be accredited by the Better Business Bureau, which says it started receiving complaints concerning the company in July 2023. A complete of three complaints had been filed.

“At that time, if anyone had looked on BBB.org about them, they would have seen it was a D+, which quickly fell to an F in September of 2023,” stated Claire Rosenzweig, president and CEO of BBB Metropolitan New York.

The BBB stresses doing all your analysis when reserving journeys.

“What you want to be cautious about is companies without a track record that just came to you through some website that you saw online, or some social media text or ad that you got,” Rosenzweig stated.

She added to look out for crimson flags, like requesting fee via peer-to-peer platforms, money, reward playing cards or by wiring cash.

“If you choose to work with a company and you’re going to pay, we always say consider using credit cards because credit cards do have the most protection,” she stated. “But even with a credit card, you have to be careful, because if you’re getting the runaround from someone, they know that there are time limits on chargebacks.”

Nassau County Police are asking anybody who believes they could be a sufferer to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS or name 911.