‘Time wasting’ customer jailed for stealing agents’ passwords to book holidays
A jobless man has been given a prison sentence for booking holidays worth £44,000 after admitting using travel agency staff passwords to get into systems.
Adam Griffiths of Penlan, Swansea, used the passwords to access systems to book luxurious holidays in the Seychelles and Dubai.
Griffiths, 28, who was described in court as a ‘Walter Mitty character’, then took photographs and posted them on his Facebook page to impress friends.
Staff at TUI and Burgess Travel branches in Swansea thought he was a time waster because he spent so much time discussing exotic holidays without making a booking, prosecutor Carina Hughes told the court.
In fact, he was taking the time to note down the passwords they were using, she said.
On one occasion, he used the details to book holidays to the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, flying first class. On another occasion he took a friend to the Seychelles.
However, the court heard they went hungry after discovering the booking, which Griffiths thought was all-inclusive, was actually bed and breakfast and they could not afford meals out.
Griffiths defrauded TUI of £39,466 and Burgess Travel of £4,700. The court heard he could afford to repay just £1.
According to the BBC, his barrister Andrew Evans said Griffiths was desperate to be admired and in the past had claimed to have fought against ISIS, been close to Scotland Yard and was authorised to carry firearms.
In fact he was unemployed and lived in a council house, he said.
Griffiths admitted the fraud and was jailed for two and a half years at Swansea Crown Court.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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