Things are hard everywhere. When they’re not raiding the homes of former government officials, the United States Department of Justice’s investigators are targeting travel advisors who aren’t who they say they are.
This week Diana M. Hopkins of Wimauma, Florida became the latest person to face the scales of justice. Hopkins was sentenced on August 8 to three years in federal prison for wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering related to his activities as a travel consultant.
According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) report, Hopkins’ HTS Vacations used Facebook and a website to solicit customers to purchase a vacation. These trips were advertised at deeply discounted rates, according to the Feds.
Hopkins also “perpetrated falsehoods in offering customers certain discounts and/or other incentives to pay for [cruises] and travel arrangements in advance of the customers’ travel dates.”
Operating in typical Ponzi fashion, Hopkins then used other customers’ credit card information to pay for other customers’ bookings, apparently without their knowledge or consent.
In terms of other potential vacations, Hopkins never took a vacation, instead spending money on “personal and family expenses, groceries, restaurants, retail stores, jewelry, 2019 Dodge Ram 1500” and surprisingly, “trips for family members,” the DOJ said.
Hopkins himself earned a total of $91,495. As part of his sentence, he forfeited $115,995. Hopkins was ordered to pay $432,938 in restitution.
I want to make two points here. The first is that if a deal seems too good to be true, it often is. This is an old saying, but I have yet to see it rejected. Some agents, especially reputable, experienced dealers, can offer travel discounts that others cannot. But the much lower savings rates available elsewhere in the market should be viewed with caution.
That does not mean that the customers were abused by Ms. Hopkins either way had to be removed. But it pays to work with travel advisors recommended by reliable sources.
My second point is personal: I don’t think I will ever fully understand people like the convicted felon Diana Hopkins.
In carrying out her plan it seems that Mrs. Hopkins has done a great job (even in furthering her shameful plans). Among other steps, they enter many customers’ credit card data into travel security procedures. He changed the names associated with other customers’ cards to match the names of the bookings he paid for.
Hopkins also went so far as to encourage customers to send payments through platforms including PayPal, and use some of the money to make “Ponzi-style” payments to other customers without their knowledge or authorization.
That’s a lot of work! All of this had to take time to conceive and implement, and I can’t help but wonder what would have made Ms. Hopkins put the same effort and determination into running a travel consulting business.
I think he has the same desire for instant wealth that seems to drive other criminals. Unfortunately, there is a long history of travel advisors who have been little more than grifters whose main goal was to leave the client money.
Over the years their modus operandi has been pretty much the same: collect clients’ holiday deposits, pay for some but not all of the bookings, and cover other relevant payments with the client’s new funds. Invariably, a significant part of the deposit money does not make it to the sellers.
Of course, becoming a professional travel consultant does not always provide a quick path to wealth. However, few jobs offer all of the travel consultants enjoy, including the ability to travel around the world as part of their lifestyle.
Experienced counselors can also boast of countless encounters with new people, places and cultures, experiences that provide knowledge and insight that cannot often be bought.
