Another scam: Online travel agency Fly Far vanishes with advance payments, say customers
Customers allege the company lured them with attractive, often 'unbelievable', discounts on air tickets, hotel bookings, and international travel packages for the upcoming holiday season, thereby swindling them out of lakhs of taka.
Just two months after the Flight Expert scandal, another online travel agency, Fly Far International, has allegedly shut down and disappeared after taking significant advance payments from hundreds of customers.
Customers and users of Fly Far complained on Wednesday (15 October) that they were unable to check air ticket prices or complete bookings on the company's website.
Following the technical issues, many took to social media, claiming they had been defrauded.
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They allege the company lured them with attractive, often "unbelievable," discounts on air tickets, hotel bookings, and international travel packages for the upcoming holiday season, thereby swindling them out of lakhs of taka.
The company's office, located on the second floor of Ka-9/A, Haji Abdul Latif Mansion, Bashundhara Residential Road in the capital, was found closed on Wednesday when customers visited the address.
In an interview with travel blogger "Travel with Rajesh", one customer said, "I deposited Tk54 lakh with the company, but now I am unable to contact anyone."
Ahead of the upcoming holiday season, Fly Far advertised packages and tickets on social media for destinations in Europe, America, the Middle East, and elsewhere, offering unbelievable discounts.
Many customers paid advance amounts of lakhs of taka through the platform. When tickets and final documents were not received on time, customers tried to contact the office, only to find that the office, website, and phone numbers had suddenly become unavailable since Tuesday (14 October).
Kamrul Islam, a spokesperson for US-Bangla Airlines, told The Business Standard, "Before purchasing a ticket from any online travel agency, an advance deposit must be made with us. Therefore, no customer is at risk of losing money directly with us.
"However, travel agents or sub-agents who deposit money with an online travel agency that disappears will suffer losses, and their customers may also be affected."
Such events are not new. The Flight Expert scam in August was preceded by similar incidents involving companies such as 24Ticket.com, FlightBooking.com, and several others.
The repeated incidents have raised questions about the role of regulatory authorities.
Abdus Salam Aref, former president of the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), said, "After the recent Flight Expert incident, we had hoped the government would take effective steps to regulate online travel agencies. But no action is visible yet."
