Woman charged in $400,000 travel package scam

A Chester County woman who posed as a travel agent is accused of scamming victims on fake travel packages worth more than $400,000, the state attorney general’s office has announced.

Christine Hayes, 38, of West Chester was charged with identity theft, theft, access device fraud and fraud after the attorney general’s office determined she used aliases to market discounted travel packages between July 2017 and February of this year.

According to Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Hayes used the aliases Rebecca Williamson, Rebecca Wilson and Rebecca Richardson, and the victims live in Chester and other counties. Her main source of communication was emails and text messages.

State police identified 82 people who may have been victimized, but they said some of them did not want to be involved in the investigation because they would be repaid.

Hayes made good on initial deals to clients, leading them into a false sense of security, before offering them major vacation deals, Shaprio said. And in some instances, credit card numbers were given to her by clients to pay for airline tickets for other clients.

“This defendant defrauded 82 people who thought they were booking vacations with their friends and family, only to find out they had tickets to nowhere, their money stolen by this fake travel agent,” Shapiro said in a statement.

Shaprio said Hayes has since repaid much of the stolen money.

In one of the allegations, someone thought they were buying a vacation to Disney World for a family in which one of the members had cancer. When confronted, Hayes tried to buy some time by saying she had developed breast cancer.

Hayes has waived a preliminary hearing and remains free on $30,000 bail.