Agent charged with defrauding cruise customers

Thursday, 08 Jan, 2024 2

A travel agent from North Carolina has been charged with defrauding several elderly customers out of an Alaska cruise vacation.

Charles Johnson of Carolina Blue Tours in Statesville, NC took around $25,000 in payments for the customers but never booked the cruise.

A day before the scheduled departure, Johnson informed the customers the Royal Caribbean cruise had been abruptly canceled, police say.

This was false and in fact Johnson used part of the money to enjoy the cruise vacation himself.

“It was determined that Johnson had personally attended the cruise after informing all of the victims that the cruise had been canceled,” the sheriff’s office said.

One of the elderly customers filed a police report after Johnson failed to provide refunds.

Police inquiries found Johnson did not book the desired cruise and transferred funds from his travel agency into his personal account.

Some of these funds were spent on personal travel.

He was charged with six felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and will face a court hearing later this month.

TravelMole Editorial Team

Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.

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