Cheshire travel agent admits fraud
A travel agent is due to be sentenced tomorrow after admitting fraud by abuse of position.
Rebecca Waterfall worked for Incentivise, an agency based in Lymm, Cheshire, between October 2015 and May last year.
She admitted that during that time she fraudulently used her employer’s credit card to pay for holidays.
In total she spent more than £10,000 and left one family, who were family friends, more than £5,000 out of pocket.
Waterfall was due for sentencing on Friday but Judge Patrick Field QC at Manchester Crown Court adjourned the case until tomorrow (Tuesday) so she could repay the debt to the family.
According to the Manchester Evening News, the 27-year-old promised to get her friends cheap holidays in order to gain popularity and passed on the losses to her employer.
The judge described her scam as the ‘travel agency equivalent of a Ponzi scheme’.
Waterfall cried in the dock during Friday’s hearing.
Her defence lawyer described her actions as ‘immature and ill-thought out’ and said her 30-year-old partner was about to undergo open heart surgery.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Global tourism exceeds 1.5 billion travelers announces UN-Tourism
Qatar Airways offers reduced timetable to over 60 destinations
WTTC global tourism reached record economic impact of 11 trillion in 2025
Hands In, UATP join forces for airline multi-card payments
Overseas travelers to the United States declined by 2.5% in 2025