Online Travel Agency Claims it’s Operating Illegally to Evade Taxes & Keep Prices Low

Last Updated on 2023-06-07 , 4:16 pm

In today’s day and age, there’s a saying that everyone should take note of:

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Case in point: This ‘discounted’ travel package from a ‘travel agency’, which resulted in almost 50 victims being scammed of over $1 million.

Online ‘Agency’ Already Taken Down from the Internet

According to The Straits Times, the ‘agency’ managed to scam at least 48 individuals by getting them to pay for travel packages to Kundasang in Sabah, Malaysia.

The ‘agency’ in question?

FL Holidays, which seems to have completely vanished from the Internet ever since its victims filed police reports.

The trips were offered at a discounted rate as compared to the usual prices offered by other legitimate agencies.

The scams, which took place from March to May this year, resulted in a total loss of $1.7 million for all the victims.

Another Facebook Page With ‘Same’ Advertisement Methods Has Been Created

And that’s not all.

A few days after the victims exposed the online travel agency to the police, another ‘travel agency’ popped up on Facebook.

The new ‘travel agency’, named ‘Travel Key’ in Chinese, appeared to have used the same advertisement methods as FL Holidays.

In particular, both ‘agencies’ advertised trips to the same place, Kundasang.

In this case, Travel Key wrote in its advertisements that a four-day trip would cost $436 per person.

For reference, a four-day trip to Kundasang in Sabah conducted by actual travel agencies would cost anywhere between $500 to $700 per person.

Which is a pretty alright price to pay, considering that the other option is that you pay and end up not being able to go on the trip because there’s no trip planned in the first place.

Victims Noticed the Similarities Between FL Holidays and Travel Key

As for how we know that FL Holidays and Travel Key look uncannily similar, it’s all thanks to the eagle-eyed victims of FL Holidays who made the connection.

Ms Cheng, a 52-year-old victim of FL Holidays, told The Straits Times that she was looking through posts on her Facebook feed on 19 May.

Ms Cheng, who had previously reported FL Holidays to the police on 13 May, spotted a travel package advertisement that looked like something she had seen before.

Upon taking a closer look, she realised that the advertisements, which Travel Key had posted, used ‘the same tactics’ as FL Holidays; the advertisements were just published by another Facebook page.

Ms Cheng added that she came across the advertisements on Facebook multiple times a day.

Apart from that, both ‘agencies’ addresses were along the same street.

Both ‘agencies’ had indicated that their address was along Jalan Hospital, which is located in Semporna, Sabah.

The Straits Times Went Undercover as a ‘Customer’

After being told of the similarities between FL Holidays and Travel Key, a reporter from The Straits Times went undercover as a ‘customer’ of Travel Key.

‘Issac’, who introduced himself as a sales consultant of the agency, responded to WhatsApp messages enthusiastically via voice messages and sent photos of itineraries in Chinese.

According to The Straits Times, Issac said in Chinese that Travel Key is a Malaysia-based company but is unregistered ‘to evade taxes’.

He added that this was how the agency was able to ‘keep prices low’.

Yup, that’s not shady at all.

He then sent ‘proof’ that multiple people had booked their spots in the tour package by sending a ‘guest list’ of individuals who had ‘booked’ the package and screenshots of bank transactions showing that Travel Key had ‘received payment’ from them.

The guest list comprised 39 people, and Issac claimed that there were only 11 slots left.

He even went as far as to offer a rate of $872 for a two-person package to Kundasang lasting four days and three nights.

Issac also informed the ‘customer’ that they would have to pay for the package within 15 minutes.

He also told them that many people were keen on booking the remaining slots of the package and tried to convince the reporter that they should stop procrastinating and just book the package.

But unlike getting your homework done, procrastination was definitely the better option here.

Guest List for Both ‘Agencies’ Was Almost Exactly the Same

And if you think that FL Holidays and Travel Key couldn’t get more similar, they just did.

FL Holidays’ victims had previously received a ‘guest list’ in April this year, which they sent to The Straits Times.

The list, which had been used as a pressure tactic to try and get the victims to pay for the package as soon as possible to book their slot, was oddly similar to the list Issac had sent the reporter.

In fact, the two lists were almost completely identical, with 37 out of 39 names on Travel Key’s list appearing on FL Holidays’ list as well.

Additionally, the original title of the ‘guest list’ sent by Issac was still denoted as ‘FL Holidays.xlsx’.

This was even though Travel Key had changed the file name to reflect Travel Key’s company name.

Initially Denied Any Links, Said that Data Might Have Been Stolen by Fake Agencies

When the undercover customer from The Straits Times brought this issue up to Issac, he insisted that Travel Key had nothing to do with FL Holidays.

He even told the ‘customer’ that he did not know of such a company and continued to harp on the fact that Travel Key was a ‘legitimate business’.

Additionally, he pointed out that Travel Key’s data might have been stolen by other fake agencies to try and scam others.

Except that Travel Key and the ‘fake agencies’ are probably operated by the same people.

Facebook Posts Were Backdated

Beyond the uncannily similar guest lists, The Straits Times also noticed other suspicious details about Travel Key’s Facebook page.

One of the most prominent details was the obvious backdating of Facebook posts, which initially allowed the page to seem to have been in operation since 2014.

However, a quick look at most of their posts would allow netizens to see that most of their posts, even those dating back to 2014, were actually posted in May this year.

Yes, time travel has finally been made possible… But only in this context.

When questioned about the backdating of Travel Key’s Facebook posts, Issac told The Straits Times that he would talk to his supervisor about the issue.

However, he responded a few minutes later and claimed that his supervisor said no explanation regarding the matter needed to be given.

Individuals Affiliated With FL Holidays Currently Under Investigation

Currently, five men and two women are under investigation for allegedly being affiliated with FL Holidays.

They are between the ages of 24 and 59.

One of the men, 29-year-old July Izaak, was charged earlier last month on 26 May after disclosing his Singpass details to others.

By sharing his Singpass details, Izaak apparently enabled another person to manage his bank accounts with DBS and OCBC.

The person, whose identity has yet to be disclosed, also managed to open more bank accounts with Izaak’s personal details.

Increase in Travel Agency Scams; How to Avoid and Identify Them

With the rise in scams as a whole across Singapore, travel agency-related scams have also increased over recent months.

From January to July last year, it was recorded that 35 or more victims lost a total of $340,000 to fake travel agency website scams.

These websites claimed to provide several services like visa applications, arrival card applications and flight bookings.

Victims were prompted to submit their personal information and payment card details to these scam websites.

They only realised they had been scammed after contacting the relevant authorities for assistance.

And for those still keen on travelling but want to be more wary of such scams, here’s what the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) has to say.

A spokesperson from NATAS recommended that members of the public only purchase tour packages from travel agents licensed by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

Members of the public can check NATAS’ Membership Directory or the STB website to obtain a list of STB-licensed agencies.

Apart from that, NATAS added that signs of a travel package scam may include the following:

• An offer that is too good to be true.
• Packages that require you to carry out urgent funds transfers.
• Packages that ask you to reveal your One-Time PIN (OTP).
• Packages with a dubious vendor.