A Long Island based travel agent has been arrested and faces charges of defrauding clients out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Tavia Thomas of Destiny Travel, was charged with grand larceny and involvement in a scheme to defraud.
Investigators say it found three counts of defrauding customers of more than $53,000.
It involved a cruise booking for multiple people a destination wedding and a Caribbean birthday trip. Thomas accepted payment for the vacations but never made the bookings.
In court this week, Thomas pleaded not guilty to the charges, which relate to bookings made over the past two years.
Customer Rosalind Gross-Hall said she had used Destiny Travel to book travel for a number of years without any issues.
However, the cruise booking was different.
The graduation cruise for her daughter and 33 other guests was found to be a scam, when they tried to check in at Bayonne cruise terminal in New Jersey.
“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 said.
Better Business Bureau said it starting receiving complaints about the travel agency in 2023.
