A large group of aunties and uncles who paid for a dream holiday to Thailand was left hanging after their agent allegedly ran off with over R2 million.
The group of about 80 people were informed a week ago that they were not going on their long-awaited tour.
Sharon Lategan from Strand says in her area they were a group of 10 mense, all over sixty-years-old, and they paid R26 000 each to Prudence November of Angelique’s Tours.
He explains: “She would organise successful boat trips to Namibia and people would come back impressed.
“We enquired and she explained to us and sent banking details.
“In May 2023 we sent a deposit of R5 000 and we had to be done with our payment by December last year. We found out there were about 77 people who booked, some booked for 10 people and paid more than R100 000 to Prudence and the estimate for everyone is more than R2 million.”
Sharon adds that in February they got their itinerary and “exploded with excitement” as it had 3 and 4 star hotels, saying: “I googled all of them, so the places were real.
“We were going to travel from Cape Town to Doha and then Phuket.”
She says they started asking for tickets and were told they would get them in June.
But as they neared the departure date of 20 June, Prudence told them to start packing.
Sharon reveals: “A couple from Kimberley told her they had booked a bus and were going to Johannesburg on 16 June. She didn’t tell them not to book, she let them go there.
“They got on the bus and on Monday they were there waiting for us. They went back home on Saturday devastated.”
The pensioner says last Monday they were informed the trip was cancelled. She says they called a meeting and Prudence rocked up with a lawyer.
Sharon says: “At the meeting, someone who said she was a lawyer said that we are not going to Thailand nor are we getting our money back.
“And that is when we decided to go to the police and open a case because we want our money back and the person who we dealt with was Prudence and no one else. We have proof and invoices from Prudence.”
When contacted, Prudence refused to give details of why the trip bombed.
She says: “At the moment everything is with the lawyer and the police and that’s it.
Justice will prevail and everything will come to the front. They know I don't have the money and I showed them the proof.
“I understand that they are frustrated, I’m frustrated too.”
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said they registered a fraud case: “According to reports the complainant paid money to agents to organise a tour. No arrests have been made yet. The investigation continues.”