ABTA Delighted By Conviction of Fraudsters
Date published: 27 February 2008ABTA - the Travel Association, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Teletext are very pleased that the prosecution case against defendants Christakis Philippou, Tim Entwisle and Evangelia Liogka has resulted in guilty verdicts for all three and that a fourth man, Peter Kemp - who was also charged with the same five counts of conspiracy to defraud - pleaded guilty.
In the biggest case of its kind, this gang were prosecuted in connection with five holiday companies which, between July 2003 and August 2006, advertised holiday bargains that lead customers to pay for holidays that did not exist.
In 2000, ABTA, the CAA and holiday advertiser Teletext formed an anti-fraud group with the sole objective of working together to tackle and prevent fraud within the travel industry. As a result a number of new vetting procedures were implemented to prevent fraudulent companies from becoming members or advertising with them. These have proved to be very successful so far, with no frauds occurring within our organisations in the last few years.
As part of this group, ABTA, the CAA and Teletext have worked closely with the Metropolitan Police and have been instrumental in bringing this case to court. All parties assisted the Police by providing both manpower and funding in order to gather evidence in support of this case.
Mike Monk, ABTA's Head of Financial Services said: "Together with the CAA and Teletext we have worked hard to bring these perpetrators to book, and to make our organisations as fraud proof as possible. Customers who booked with these companies were victims of criminal fraud. Our role as the leading travel association is to assist the police in identifying fraud and in prosecuting the perpetrators.
We are very pleased that this case has been successful against a gang, who have persistently targeted the travel industry as they believed it was a soft target. This is not the case and customers can be reassured that ABTA Members have been thoroughly checked and scrutinized. Every industry sector is vulnerable to fraud and we worked hard and will continue to work hard to stamp out fraud in the travel industry in order to protect holidaymakers and our Members."
Barry Gooch, Head of Compliance Teletext said: "Tackling and preventing fraudulent activity is of the utmost importance to Teletext and we are delighted that one of the most active gangs of fraudsters within the travel industry has now been convicted. We hope this will be a warning to others who are intent on targeting our industry that we will not tolerate such activities.
We are proud to say that there have been no instances of fraud on our service in recent years and our controls in this regard are, we believe, second to none. It is our understanding that Teletext is the only media company that vets advertisers before allowing them to appear on the service and is a guarantee to customers booking a holiday via Teletext that they are booking with a reputable advertiser."
February 2008
For further information
Press Contacts:ABTA: For further information contact: Sean Tipton, Communications Officer, tel: 020 7307 1902/1900 Mobile: 07801339526.
Frances Tuke, Public Relations Manager, tel: 020 7307 1903/1900, Mobile: 07850 712325
David Marshall, Head of Policy and Communications, tel: 020 7307 1912, Mobile: 07894 073010. Out of Hours: Contact the Duty Press Officer via pager: 07659 190987
Teletext: Lisa Shackleton, mobile: 078855 45086, tel. 020 8323 5557
CAA: Jonathon Nicholson, Cheryl Walmsley, tel. 020 7453 6026
Notes to editors
The anti-fraud group last year initiated - Stamp Out Fraud - an eight-month long campaign with travel trade paper Travel Weekly and the Metropolitan Police to educate the travel industry about the issue of fraud and the impact it has on both the travel industry and its consumers. It included a number of editorial features, an advertising campaign and an anti-fraud seminar.
Travel Booking Check List
You can help ensure that you are not a victim of fraud by doing the following:
1. Check whether your travel company is an ABTA Member, and/or when buying flights and accommodation together - look for ATOL logo and number. Before you part with any money you can check these with ABTA (http://www.abta.com/) 020 7637 2444 and the CAA (http://www.atol.org.uk/) 020 7453 6350.
2. Get the right documentation. You need a confirmation document from the organisation providing the travel arrangements with receipt of monies you have paid. If you're buying just a flight, you will need either an ATOL Confirmation, or the airline's ticket or flight confirmation straightaway. Check the names on the documentation match with who you've paid. Check your bank and credit statements carefully.
3. Consumers should check whether their travel arrangements are financially protected. Many travel arrangements provided by ABTA Members are protected, but where financial protection is not automatically in place, ABTA Members can offer protection through a low-cost insurance policy.
The Case of Crown - v - Phillipou, Liogka, Entwhistle – the Companies
The Companies | CAA | ABTA | Teletext |
Ciao Travel with trading name Sun. Had been trading since 1980s but bought by group and set up again in Spring 2004. Failed 20 August 2004 Took £ 1.4 million from 2,035 people. ABTA paid out £483,000 to 500 people. | No | Yes | Yes |
Onshine with trading name Sunsplash Set up in Spring 2004, failed August 2005. CAA paid out £600,000 to customers and credit card companies refunded £ 1.2 million. | Yes | No | Yes |
Grayrise Associates with trading name Elite Travel. Set up in 2004, started trading spring 2005, failed 25 August 2005. ABTA paid out £538,000. Swedish credit card company refunded £1.2 million to customers. | No | Yes | Yes |
Orange Sun Ltd with trading names holidays4under200pound.com and unbeatableholidays.com. Set up in November 2005 Failed August 2006 | No | No | No |
Sun Orient with trading name sunmed-resorts.com. Failed in 2006 | Yes | No | No |
