JEDDAH, 14 January 2003 — Police here are searching for a man behind a company which has sold fraudulent travel deals.
The company set up a series of “buy now, pay later” deals with local travel companies and issued invalid checks to buy tickets to Pakistan, India, Egypt, the Philippines and many other Asian countries.
The group’s offices have been closed and the authorities ordered the immediate arrest of the owner.
So far, three travel agencies have sued the group through the Ministry of Commerce. A representative of one of the agencies said that he had issued SR300,000 worth of tickets against company checks. The fraud only came to light when the checks were dishonored.
The fraudster succeeded in convincing the travel agencies that he was a big businessman, dealing in major real estate projects and in the Haj and Umrah business.
Using temporary luxury offices to deceive the agents, he purchased tickets to numerous countries.
When the checks were found to be invalid, the agents discovered the offices had been vacated and the telephone numbers changed.
