Travel agency robs €11,000 for fake tickets

POLICE are investigating a travel agency in Nicosia for allegedly stealing over €11,000 from unsuspecting clients by giving them reservations instead of tickets for their money.

According to spokesman Andreas Angelides, police have so far received 18 complaints about the matter. Reports say 16 are UN employees that couldn’t travel due to the scam.

A 65-year-old man was arrested on Thursday in Nicosia who had admitted his involvement in the case, while police are on the hunt for another man, aged 35, believed to be abroad.

The offences include obtaining money using false pretences.

In total, they made €11,930 by selling 53 flight reservations between May and the end of August, to unsuspecting clients by telling them they were actual tickets.

One would-be passenger paid using a credit card while the other 17 paid in cash.

Police said they could not name the travel agency for legal reasons.

Association of Cyprus Travel Agents chairman Dinos Kakouras told state radio the agency was registered with the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and had paid €15,000 as a bond, as is the norm, and that should be able to compensate all those affected by the scam.

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