Ethiopia. He wins £50-worth of Love2shop
vouchers, thanks to Holiday Taxis.
❯ To see more of MoMad and
other agents’ photos, log on to
www.travelweekly.co.uk/travelhub
It has been a shock,
but it’s not the
fi rst company hit by the
recession, and it won’t
be the last.
www.travelweekly.co.uk
UK managing director Stuart
Perl of Peter Deilmann talking
about the river cruise division
going into administration.
For more on this story, go to
www.travelweekly.co.uk
Maureen ‘Instead of taking the lead from the buff and chiselled
Daniel Craig, British men are choosing to follow Borat’: page 22
Not such a soft
touch after all
Karen Dempsey
TWgroup Editor
It’s satisfying to see a group
of fraudsters get caught –
as we’ve seen this week
with the case of three bogus
travel agents pleading
guilty to ripping off airlines
to the tune of £1.2 million,
and sending an agency into
liquidation (pages 6 and 7).
What’s frustrating, however,
is the fact that there are still con
artists out there devising ingenious
ways of swindling the industry.
The case this week was what’s
known as a ‘bust out’, where the
three tricksters bought an agency
and sold lots of airline tickets
without actually paying the
airlines for them.
This kind of scam,
unfortunately, can
seem convincing
and credible. If
your business is
struggling in the
recession, it can
be tempting to
accept a buyer’s
off er in good faith
without carrying
out the necessary
due diligence.
But if you
want to avoid
ending up
like Flights
International
(Southend),
then carrying
out detailed
background
checks really
is essential.
The
Prevention
of Fraud in Travel Group (PROFiT)
has set out some steps you can
take (page 7) to ensure you won’t
fall victim to this type of scam.
Of course, there’s still credit card
fraud, email scams, bogus fi rms –
and who knows what other types
of fraud out there.
“Carrying out detailed
background checks
really is essential”
We’re doing our bit to raise
awareness, and you can help
by sharing your experiences
on Maureen’s Fight Against
Fraud group on the Travel
Weekly travelhub. You can stay
anonymous if you wish, but our
columnist Maureen Hill wants to
take her fi ght against fraud all the
way to the Home Offi ce.
One comment on the
travelhub says: “It’s important
to have a way of sharing
information about the latest
scams so fraudsters don’t
think of the travel business
as a soft touch.”
By sharing your
cautionary tales, you might
help reduce the risk to
your business – and to
the travel sector as a
whole.
This is one
area where
forewarned really
is forearmed.
To keep up with
Travel Weekly
fraud stories
go to www.
travelweekly.
co.uk/fraud
July 3 2009 | Travel Weekly | 5
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