Former travel agent sentenced over fraud that ‘knew no depths’

A former travel agent with no hesitations in ripping off her former employers and acquaintances will face 12 months home detention.

The 29-year-old Waihi woman has been convicted on 16 fraud offences including making a false statement, after a lengthy investigation run by the Auckland City Financial Crime Unit.

Her victims were deceived out of more than $62,000.

This week in the Auckland District Court a reparation order was made for $15,102 to be paid within 14 days of sentencing and $40,904 to be paid at $200 week.

The offending began in June 2022 and continued until August 2023, stretching across three separate employers in the travel consultancy sector.

There, she deceived employers and acquittances by offering travel booking services and instead of following protocol, received payments into her own bank account and thereby occurring losses to her employers.

Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Bolton says, “from the outset it was clear to us that the woman’s deception knew no depths.

“A significant amount of Police resource went into investigating this offending, which showed payment details being altered on travel agency documents.

“It was a pattern of offending that carried across separate companies and, as noted by the Court, consistently breached the trust given to her by those employers, using her industry experience to exploit their business systems and perpetrate her offending.”

It has resulted in convictions for dishonestly using a document, obtaining by deception, accessing computer systems for dishonest purposes and forgery of documents.

But that wasn’t the end, as she used another identity to continue her offending, Detective Senior Sergeant Bolton says.

A loan was taken out from a New Zealand bank partner company, to the tune of nearly $30,000, by using the identity of another person.

“To cover her tracks, she ordered a postal redirection without the recipient’s consent.

“This offending could have gone further, as she unsuccessfully attempted to apply for another loan, using the same identity, at a finance company.”

In an effort to cover this phase of offending, she made a false statement to Police, the gravity of which was specifically mentioned by the Court.

Wednesday’s sentencing sends a strong message about those committing this sort of offending.

“Our fraud team continues to hold a dim view of those seeking a free ride, conning their victims out of serious amounts of money,” Detective Senior Sergeant Bolton says.

“Police will continue to prosecute these offenders who are causing great deal of harm and loss.”

“This is a fantastic outcome for the woman’s victims, who have been patient while this matter proceeded through the court.”

Police recognised the risk of continued offending by the woman.

Detective Sergeant Matt Lynch led a team of detectives from the unit to execute a search warrant in Waihi, with assistance from local Police.

“I want to acknowledge the officer in charge, Detective Simon Reid who has worked relentlessly in uncovering the scope of offending.”

Image credit: Torsten Dettlaff