7 in fake travel booking face estafa raps

Five travel agents and two owners of their agency are now facing charges of syndicated estafa when Quezon City police pounced on them over fake travel booking, duping several victims of hundreds of thousands of pesos of travel fees.

Quezon City Police District Station 9 (Anonas) commander P/Lt.Col. Ferdinand Casiano, identified the suspects who are now under their custody as Rogelyn Remedio; Ma. Elena Airene Posadas; Ma. Gladys Nicole Precilla; Charlie Lao-As; Kenneth Precilla, all employees of Fulham Road Travel Agency, while Mark Wayne Chuck and Cacharels Celine Caniillo Collings Chuck, the owners of the travel agency are still at large.

Casiano said they have received multiple complaints from those who have engaged with Fulham Travel Agency since 2020. They have filed complaints at their police station regarding the fraudulent activities of said travel agency.

The police chief cited as an example that on 25 September 2023, five complainants booked a trip to Boracay through the agency’s Instagram account, sending a total of P38,500 via bank transfer to BPI Bank as a down payment.

On 12 and 13 December 2023, one of the complainants deposited an additional amount of P30,468 and P20,000 to the same account, covering the full payment of a trip. However, the suspects, with the intent to deceive and defraud, failed to fulfill the complainants’ vacation plans scheduled on 18 January 2024.

This prompted the complainants to report the incident at PS 9 at 1:35 p.m. on 18 January. Immediately, PS 9 operatives were swiftly dispatched to the agency’s address, which resulted in the arrest of the suspects. Unfortunately, the owners of the agency were nowhere to be found.

The suspects were already charged with syndicated estafa, while additional charges for falsification and using a fictitious name will be filed against suspects Remedio and Posadas for using falsified documents in processing the complainants’ documents.

A manhunt operation is still being conducted for the possible arrest of the other two suspects.