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16 February, 2023

“She played on my vulnerability”: Victim reveals impact of fraudulent travel agents’ lies

The victims of a scheme by a bogus travel agent who recently copped a nine year prison sentence after frauding over 1400 people out of $2m+ dollars have spoken about their heart-breaking experience.

In case you missed our original coverage of this fraudster, Lyne Barlow, you can check out how this woman scammed hopeful travellers, stole over half a million pounds from her own mother and even faked a terminal cancer diagnosis to explain her lacklustre communications skills with clients.

Barlow operated through her phoney business called Lyne Barlow Independent Travel. She garnered a reputation as someone who could offer low prices for her services and the products themselves.

Two people that heard about this was Shelley and Evan McAlpine, who were struggling with the devastating news that their middle son, who had a life-limiting disability, only had months to live.

In February 2020, the couple decided to book a week’s holiday, which they believed could be the last with the whole family.

“He’d just come out of intensive care, where we’d already nearly lost him,” said Shelley, a 40-year-old mother-of-three from County Durham.

“We’d been told he didn’t have long, so we decided we wanted to make some memories for him and our other children. That’s when I picked up the phone.”

The couple got in touch with Barlow at the recommendation of a friend – one of the few travellers that Barlow pulled through for.

The McAlpine’s wanted to book a week at Center Parcs, a place that was easily accessible considering their sons’ disability.

“Lyne was wonderful and so sympathetic, and said she would take care of all the logistics,” Shelley said. “She told me she would take all the stress away — all we had to do was pay and turn up.”

“She called back and said she had managed to get an incredible deal: instead of £2,500 for one week, she could get us a fortnight for £3,000.”

But Barlow took the £3000 (AUD$5226) and vanished.

“I was a bit sceptical, but she was incredibly empathetic, and convinced me it was the right thing to do — obviously, she played on my vulnerability, and I didn’t question her credibility because of my friend’s recommendation,” Shelley said.

Shelley recalled to The Daily Mail when she realised that her travel agent of choice wasn’t as she seemed. When Shelley finally received the receipt attachment to an email, she thought it looked a bit funny.

“It didn’t have any of her company details on it, no registered address — anyone could have typed it. I emailed back, saying that I didn’t mean to be rude, but it didn’t look like an official booking. Then, when I asked for further confirmation, she stopped replying to any of my messages.

“I contacted my friend and asked if all was OK with her upcoming trip to Florida, and learned that Lyne wasn’t returning her calls either. Then, a few days later, she called me and told me Lyne been arrested for fraud.

“It wasn’t the holiday, but the fact that she knew my world had fallen apart, and she still felt able to do this to me,” she said. “The children had their bags packed and I had to explain they couldn’t go. They were devastated.”

Barlow is currently facing a nine year prison sentence.

Featured Image: Lyne Barlow

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