Grandfather says he was a victim of holiday scam
A GRANDFATHER from England says he is a victim of a holiday scam which has left dozens of holidaymakers in the Portadown area out of pocket.
The man’s daughter contacted the Portadown Times to reveal that her father has lost just under £2,000 for a family holiday he booked to Orlando, Florida in January.
The woman, who did not wished to be named or her father identified, said that she had made a complaint to her local police authority which had now been passed on to the PSNI.
The development comes after the paper reported in June the story of one man who lost over £1,000. Others who were believed to be victims are a honeymoon couple and a family who also booked a trip to Florida.
The grandfather had been due to fly out to the United States, along with his daughter, her husband and their two children this month, having paid £1,950 into a bank account belonging to a man in Portadown.
The woman explained that her father had no suspicions about handing over the money, due to the fact that he had paid the same individual on two other occasions for holidays in Benidorm, Spain and the Dominican Republic last autumn.
“When I started asking my dad for details of when we were due to fly out, and where from, and he couldn’t tell me because he didn’t know himself, that’s when I started to feel that something was wrong.
“We’ve contacted him (the man) and we’re still waiting to get our money back. We’ve sent him texts and phoned him but he just slams the phone down,” she said.
The woman revealed that her father has since paid £2,600 for a second family holiday. “Which means he has spent over £4,000 in total. My father has learned a valuable lesson,” she continued.
A PSNI spokesman confirmed that they had received a second complaint in relation to a “report of alleged fraudulent activity regarding the sale of holidays in the north Armagh area”.
“We are appealing to anyone with information to come forward,” he added.
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Weather for Portadown
Thursday 20 June 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 17 C
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