[WATCH] ‘Holiday Swindler’ speaks: ‘No scam, just bad business’
GOT DEATH THREATS: CEO Tasneem Moosa
The so-called Holiday Swindler, CEO Tasneem Moosa of Hello Darlings, says the only thing she’s guilty of is making bad business choices for wanting to give clients a good time.
Moosa has denied fleeing the country saying it was “common knowledge” that she’s been living overseas in Dubai for the past three years. She said November 2021 was the last time she had been in South Africa.
She has been accused of scamming scores of South Africans out of more than R100 million by allegedly selling them bogus holiday packages.
More than 200 cases of fraud and theft have been opened at various police stations across South Africa by victims.
In a telephone interview with anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee over the weekend, Moosa said: “I did not set out to harm anyone or take their money. I was just trying to give the SA public good holidays at affordable prices.”
She said Hello Darlings was not a scam but a poorly run business which compounded its trade losses.
Breaking down in tears during an interview on Glow TV on Monday, Moosa said she had received numerous death threats and now fears for her family.
She said she disabled her social media accounts because people could track her and not because she ran away with clients’ money.
“The list of refunds which has been released amounts to a total of R26 million and not hundreds of millions as has been reported. Of this figure, about R7 to 10 million has been paid back,” she said in an earlier statement.
“Again this will be verified by the various authorities involved by using our bank statements of the only accounts we have.”
Asked whether she thought Hello Darlings was a pyramid scheme, Moosa told Glow TV: “I don’t know what the definition of a pyramid scheme is but my intention was never a pyramid scheme.
“So if I ran into a loss, I sold another trip to pay for a current trip. Maybe that qualifies as the definition of a pyramid scheme, but the intention was never for it to be a scheme.
“When I started to get into trouble, I advertised more trips in order to fulfil those trips.
“I am not sitting with a ton of money, there is no money. But the advice that I have been given, which is obviously very valid, is to go into liquidation so that at least something can be recovered and be paid out to people.”