Whitby woman acting as travel agent facing charges in $245,000 fraud scheme

Durham police have charged a Whitby woman after she allegedly fraudulently sold vacations.

Police say the Financial Crimes Unit began an investigation in October 2020 after receiving reports that a woman was impersonating a travel agent and was “kiting”.

Officers say kiting is a common type of fraud in the travel industry, where an agent collects cash payments from clients and doesn’t apply the money to the client’s vacation, and instead pockets the cash.

They say she had participated in this practice between 2011 and 2019, using a falsified Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) certificate.

Police say she defrauded several travel agencies of more than $245,000.

She owns her own travel business called “Travel Girl Inc” and has used over 21 aliases.

She also claims to specialize in group travel and destination weddings.

Tarcia Craig Brown, 43, of Whitby is charged with: Fraud Exceeding $5000 x4, Use Computer to Commit Computer Offence x4, Intercept Computer Functions x4, Unauthorized Use of Credit Card Data x4, Forgery x5 and Utter Forged Document x6.

The police are appealing for any witnesses or victims to come forward.

The police are also reminding you that you can search for travel agents and companies on the TICO website.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact D/Cst. Middleton of the Financial Crimes Unit at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 5321 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).

Here is a list of her aliases