Airline ticket fraud on the rise

MILPITAS – A felony criminal action for Wire Fraud (under 18 U.S.C. Section 1343) has been filed in the United States Northern District Court of San Jose against Rosemarie Almiranez Gan. Ms. Gan operated a travel agency, where she purchased blocks of airline tickets from Philippine Airlines as a General Sales Agent. She faces action under 18 US.C. Section 981 (a) (1)(C)/ 28 U.S.C. Section 2461(c) – civil forfeiture or recovery of assets gained illegally.

Argee's Travel and Gifts is located on Milmont Drive in Milpitas

According to court documents, Gan, through Argee’s Travel and Gifts, had solicited investors to participate in an investment opportunity involving the purchase and resale of discounted, pre-booked airline tickets.

Once Gan had received the money, she used the funds to pay off other investors who had been hassling her for payments, after her failure to follow through with their agreement to provide a specified amount after a number of tickets had been sold. Gan was supposed to have used the funds to purchase and resell blocks of tickets, as was identified in the contract. She had failed to follow her agreement with other investors who had given her more than $100,000 dollars to invest in her agency. Instead, Gan is accused of spending the funds on personal items, including her home mortgage, multiple car payments and other personal effects.

"No Refunds" says the sign in Ms. Gan's store. Argee's has an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau.

Victims from another travel agency scam, as reported by the officers at the SJPD administration building, also faced a similar case against a person for fraud. This led the victims through avenues where it seemed there was no possible way of gaining back anything from the theft. These victims had been sold non-existent airline tickets, expecting to take them back to the Philippines. Tiered information from the San Jose Police Department showed that there was little or nothing more the victims could do to get their monies back through a filed claim with the Small Claims Court of Santa Clara.

The officer explained, “If you did not experience any type of financial loss there is little you can do to file a claim against the individual.” The department recommends that if you are involved in a fraud incident that you use the online features provided by the San Jose Police Department to file a report. Despite cutbacks in patrol officers, the office itself has no shortfall in investigative officers willing to take a look at your case. The best case when buying an airline ticket is to buy the ticket from the airline itself. This way when it comes time to board your flight, they already know who you are.

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