The FBI has taken over an investigation into the conduct of a mission trip travel agency who failed to honor air tickets for several faith based groups.
Problems first came to light about one month ago and since then many more groups across the country have reported tickets were not delivered despite large sums being paid to agency Mission Trip Airfare in Sandy Springs, GA.
The FBI estimates mission trip groups are out of pocket by about $500,000, Fox 5 Atlanta reports.
Groups such as One Plus God in Marion, Ohio said they have nearly $100,000 due to non-existent tickets.
"We want to hear from the victims and we’re still trying to get a grasp on just what happened here," FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said.
"We understand when individuals shell out money in good faith and don’t get the goods and to make matters worse they don’t get their money back. Wire fraud is a very powerful federal statute that gives us at the FBI the nexus to investigate these types of matters."
Another customer out of pocket by six figures is wholesale agent McAbee Travel, which said it experienced problems with the company back in May.
The police and the Better Business Bureau became involved last month and that sparked Mission Trip Airfare to release a statement through its attorney.
"Unfortunately, Mission Trip Airfare does not have sufficient funds on hand to issue your organization (or any organization) a full refund immediately. Mission Trip Airfare’s management apologizes for its inability to provide full and immediate refunds and realizes that this issue adversely affects your organization."
"Over the course of the next 90 days, Mission Trip Airfare will be working with its advisers to determine the best way to provide refunds to its customers. Mission Trip Airfare will provide periodic updates to its customers on how the process is going."
The agency is owned by brother and sister siblings Beth and Jonathan Greenhill, Fox reported.
