Ajman, Apr 14 (Emirates 247) : Several Asian expatriates in the UAE have become victims of alleged cheating by an employee of a 15-year old travel agency based in Ajman, after air tickets issued by him turned out to be fake.

An Indian national from Rajasthan, who had purchased an air ticket from the travel agency to go home to attend the funeral of a close relative, was stopped at a UAE airport because his air ticket was fake. The agitated customer was in the travel agency’s office, making a scene and trying to attack office employees and managers.

A Bangladeshi worker, who had travelled to Dhaka was stopped at the airport on his return trip, because he held a fake ticket sold by the Ajman-based travel agency.

Many Asian families who were planning to go home via Dubai and Sharjah airports were not allowed to travel because their tickets turned out to be fake. An Indian family, that booked air tickets paying Dh12,000 for going home during the coming summer vacation, is equally desperate now. The victims of the alleged fraud include teachers, families and workers.

Some people who purchased tickets from one particular employee of the travel agency were turned away at a UAE airport while some who travelled home are stranded there, unable to make their return trips as the tickets issued to them turned out to be fake.  It appears that the travel agency’s employee was cancelling the tickets after issuing them to pocket the refund money.

Speaking to Emirates 24|7, the manager of the travel agency said it had already filed a police complaint against an employee who was found cheating customers by giving dummy computer generated tickets and manipulating the invoices he gave to customers and their corresponding copies submitted to the accounts department of the travel agency. The fraud came to light last Thursday when the employee went missing.

“We have lodged a complaint with Ajman police about an employee called Mohammed, hailing from Kozhikode in Kerala, who had worked with the agency for two years. After getting a customer’s complaint, we checked his account and found that he was not giving the right invoice to customers who were attracted to him by the steep discounts he offered on air fares,” the manager said.

“We have put up a warning notice in front of our office asking customers to make sure that they reconfirm their tickets after receiving our invoice. Many of the complainants with fake tickets had not taken the invoice or cash receipt.  We will compensate customers who have the cash receipt or invoice.Payment for the rest will depend on the police investigation,” said the manager, who said the employee was given a visa by the owner of a travel agency from Afghanistan, after much persuasion by his relative who runs a cafeteria in the neighbourhood.

The manager said this employee was also issuing genuine tickets to customers but, after taking their money, he used to cancel the tickets and pocket the refund. The fake tickets and invoices were issued on the company’s official letter head or invoice.

“This man had been pardoned earlier by the owner. He was paying back Dh90,000 that he owed to the company. Out of his salary of Dh3000, Dh 2500 was being deducted for repaying the company. His two brothers had pledged their passports with the agency to pardon and employ him again. He went missing on Thursday and his two mobile phones remain switched off,” said the company official.

It is also suspected that some of public relation officers were hand-in-glove with the missing employee.

“There are three copies for an invoice. One copy is given to the customer, and one is for the accounts department. While doing the mischief, this employee was not using a carbon paper. After issuing the customer’s copy with the right amount that he collected, a small amount was written on the second and third copies of the same invoice kept with the travel agency. We are now checking all his transactions,” the manager confirmed. “While the amount mentioned in the customer’s invoice copy would be Dh10,000, the amount written on the other two copies would be Dh1000. He could easily pocket as much as Dh9,000 from a single transaction. This has been going on for the past four months,” he added.

“Some customers had their receipts written on the reverse side of the e-ticket. Customers have lost between Dh3,000 to Dh9,000 and more complaints are coming, especially from Bangladeshis and Indians,” said sources familiar with the fraud.

With the summer vacation about to begin, the travel agency manager advised customers to double check offers of good discounts by some agencies or their employees to avoid becoming victims of air ticket fraud.