PRETORIA - Dozens of families say their long-awaited December holidays have turned into heartbreak and financial ruin.
This after a Johannesburg travel agent, Premila Shunmugam from Silver Touch Events and Travel allegedly scammed them out of millions of rand for fake luxury holidays.
Shunmugam promised them dream holidays to Mauritius, Dubai and even Zanzibar.
She even sent fake booking confirmations to some clients - and several victims allege she faked a cancer diagnosis to delay questions.
But as departure dates loomed, the truth emerged: There were no bookings. No flights. No holidays.
A victim who spoke to eNCA, Debbie Princsloo claimed she had planned a getaway trip to Mauritius with her children only to find that nothing had been booked.
“When we started asking for paper walk and flight confirmation it came about that nothing had been booked and the hotel was not aware. That is when we got suspicion and started asking her but she would give excuses that there are paperwork but nothing transpired up to the time she told us that she could not honor our trip and had applied for liquidation,” she recalled.
Another victim, a pensioner, Jenny Chota is said to have lost just over R200 000 after booking a trip to Turkey with her family.
“We were a group of eight supposed to be going to Turkey to celebrate my birthday but that never happened. But what can we do? We are trying to get our money back but she has advised me she has cancer and that she is liquidating and there I no ways of getting the money back,” she says.
The woman are now seeking for justice.
“As far as I am concerned she id defiantly guilty. She has been stealing all our money. We leave it up to the law and she will pay back every sent she has taken
Shunmugam faces multiple fraud charges in criminal cases being consolidated across the country.
She’s expected back in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Courton Wednesday, as more victims come forward.