More NT travel agencies suspected of fraud

More NT travel agencies suspected of fraud
By admin


A further five Northern Territory travel agencies are being investigated by police, suspected of defrauding the same government-subsidised pensioner travel scheme as Xana Kamitsis of Latitude Travel.

Kamitsis was found guilty on Tuesday of 20 counts of obtaining benefits by deception between 2009 and 2013. The Darwin-based travel agent was found  to have fraudulently invoiced the scheme, run by the Northern Territory Health Department, for inflated flight costs when she had actually been buying cheaper flights for pensioners and then pocketing the difference.

Kamitsis’ Latitude Travel is in no way associated with Latitude Group Travel based in Victoria.

Since August last year, an inter-agency taskforce dedicated to the investigation has referred six potential cases, including Latitude Travel, to a specialist team of ­detectives. NT Police confirmed that, at this stage, no other charges had been laid.

“The investigations are in their infancy and a lot of evidence is to be examined to obtain a clear picture of criminality or otherwise,” a spokesperson said.

Although Flight Centre branches in Darwin and Palmerston were named in a 2013 Ernst and Young report that highlighted overpayments from the government-run scheme, they are not among the businesses referred to police from the taskforce, the NT News reported. Back in August, a Flight Centre spokesman told the publication that it was working at “reconciliation” with the health department.

 

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

    Latest comments

    1. I must admit to being a bit confused, if an agent buys a ticket for say $1000.00 and then gives the client an invoice for $1200.00 how is that fraud? Isnt that how everyone makes their money.

    2. Thank you, Anne and Daisy @Travel Weekly, for noting that LATITUDE GROUP TRAVEL, a tour operator in Melbourne, is in no way associated with LATITUDE TRAVEL in Darwin. I very much appreciate your help in letting the industry know who is who! I hope that everyone reads your info about us, and my comment here, as we’d hate to represent the travel industry in any way other than honestly!!
      If anyone has any questions about the articles being released about the travel agency with a similar name, or its owner, please contact AFTA, ABC News – Darwin or Travel Weekly. We can answer questions about group tours, but we only read what you read about the travel agency in Darwin!

    3. Thank you, Anne and Daisy @Travel Weekly, for noting that LATITUDE GROUP TRAVEL, a tour operator in Melbourne, is in no way associated with LATITUDE TRAVEL in Darwin. I very much appreciate your help in letting the industry know who is who! I hope that everyone reads your info about us, and my comment here, as we’d hate to represent the travel industry in any way other than honestly!!
      If anyone has any questions about the articles being released about the travel agency with a similar name, or its owner, please contact AFTA, ABC News – Darwin or Travel Weekly. We can answer questions about group tours, but we only read what you read about the travel agency in Darwin!

    4. I must admit to being a bit confused, if an agent buys a ticket for say $1000.00 and then gives the client an invoice for $1200.00 how is that fraud? Isnt that how everyone makes their money.

agents fraud Latitude Travel nt police Xana Kamitsis

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