A Long Island travel agent is accused of defrauding people out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Tavia Thomas, who police say operated as the sole travel agent of Destiny Travel, was recently charged with grand larceny and scheme to defraud.

Tavia Thomas pleads not guilty to charges

Investigators say in three different instances, Thomas is accused of collecting money but never booking trips and not giving refunds, allegedly defrauding multiple people of a total of $53,448.14.

According to a police report, on July 8, 2024, Thomas allegedly received a total of $35,753.98 from nine people who believed they were purchasing tickets for a Royal Caribbean cruise departing from Bayonne.

Police said when the victims arrived at the port, an employee told them their tickets were fake and that the cruise they booked did not exist.

About a week later, on July 16, 2024, Thomas allegedly received a total of $7,660 from several people for a destination wedding, but never booked the venues and did not provide refunds.

Later that year, in September, police said Thomas received $10,034.16 from 51 people who were booking a 75th birthday trip to the Dominican Republic, but she did not pay for the accommodations and did not provide refunds.

In court Tuesday, Thomas pleaded not guilty. Her defense attorney described the 47-year-old as a social worker who has two children, cares for her mother who is blind, and is in the process of adopting a baby.

Prosecutors, however, pointed out a criminal history.

Her next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday.

Victim says dream trip turned into a vacation nightmare

West Babylon resident Rosalind Gross-Hall said her family used Thomas as a travel agent to book flights for about three to four years and never had any issues, but when Gross-Hall tried to plan a cruise for her daughter's graduation in July 2024, what was supposed to be a dream trip turned into a vacation nightmare.

She said Thomas provided trip confirmation for their party of 34, along with an itinerary via email.

Upon arrival to the port in New Jersey, however, Gross-Hall said the cruise line couldn't find any of their information.

"The employees of Royal Caribbean was doing the best that they could to help us, to do anything to make this easier because they kind of knew after a while that this was a scam," Gross-Hall said. "[Thomas] blamed it on everybody else but her, saying that it was their fault."

The family immediately filed a police report.  

"It was just unbelievable. My daughters were so heartbroken," Gross-Hall said.

She was able to get some of her money back from her credit card company; however, she said her mother-in-law sent her deposit through Zelle.

"So she never saw that money again," Gross-Hall said.

Gross-Hall said she has since connected with other people who say they had a similar experience with Destiny Travel.

Now, a year and a half later, she said Thomas' arrest is a relief.

"We just didn't want her to hurt anybody else," she said.

BBB offers tips to stay safe

Destiny Travel is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, which says it began receiving complaints about the agency in July 2023. A total of three complaints were filed.

"At that time, if anyone had looked on BBB.org about them, they would have seen it was a D+, which quickly fell to an F in September of 2023," said Claire Rosenzweig, president and CEO of BBB Metropolitan New York.

The BBB stresses doing your research when booking trips.

"What you want to be cautious about is companies without a track record that just came to you through some website that you saw online, or some social media text or ad that you got," Rosenzweig said.

She added to look out for red flags, like requesting payment through peer-to-peer platforms, cash, gift cards or by wiring money.

"If you choose to work with a company and you're going to pay, we always say consider using credit cards because credit cards do have the most protection," she said. "But even with a credit card, you have to be careful, because if you're getting the runaround from someone, they know that there are time limits on chargebacks."

Nassau County Police are asking anyone who believes they may be a victim to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS or call 911.