Woman facing charges for allegedly running fake travel agency
Posted March 19, 2019 1:39 pm.
Last Updated March 19, 2019 3:43 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A woman already facing charges under the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) has been arrested by Peel police for allegedly running a fake travel agency.
Investigators say they have identified 22 different victims from Brampton, Mississauga and Toronto.
Police allege the victims would send payment for various vacations to Libia Guerra Paez and would receive packages with no value. Once contacted regarding the validity of their tickets, Paez would cease any interactions.
The total loss is estimated to be $108,268.01.
Paez, 40, of Mississauga was charged last Thursday with defrauding the public and is expected to appear in court on April 15.
She had been previously charged with operating as a travel agent without being registered, and failing to take reasonable care to prevent Representaciones Neward Inc. from committing the offence of selling travel under the Travel Industry Act.
In December, CityNews spoke with one woman named Cindy who claimed to have booked a trip to Punta Cana for her and 30 friends through Neward Inc. Cindy said she sent payment of $26,000 to Paez only to find out the tickets were fake.
“I called Air Transat and we had no reservation,” she explained.
“After that we called (Paez), she gave us another ticket saying that she was ‘so sorry’ and then we got our other tickets and still (they were) false. After that she hasn’t answered the phone.”
TICO also issued an advisory last year warning potential clients that she was not registered after a number of Paez’s clients contacted police.
