Rogue travel agent scammed me out of my £5k honeymoon – now I’m in debt and crowdfunding to pay for Maldives trip

A DEVASTATED newlywed who claims a travel agent scammed her out of a £5,000 honeymoon has revealed her and her husband are now crowdfunding towards their dream holiday.

Effi Gounaris, 30, from Loughton, says she was originally planning to travel to the Maldives with her husband Antony Christodoulou, 31, after they got married in Greece in June 2019.

The newlywed – who have shared their experience with BBC’s Inside Out South – is one of dozens of customers who claim they paid Hayley King thousands of pounds only for their holidays to be cancelled.

Effi had planned to surprise her husband with the booking confirmation on her husband’s birthday but was informed by the airline that her flights had been cancelled that morning.

After this, Effi contacted the hotel the agency had booked and claims she was told that they had not been paid either.

The newlywed – whose mother worked as a travel agent for 30 years – claims her and her husband have been left in debt as a result and have now turned to crowdfunding to make their dream holiday a reality.

In an interview with the , Effi says she “never thought in a million years” she would fall victim to a holiday scam.

Although her mother had educated her of the warning signs, Effi said: “This time I guess I was just super naive, far too trusting and had my guard down.”

In order to help the couple with their debt and start saving towards their honeymoon again, Effi’s younger sister has set up a to recover the £5,000 they lost.

The newlywed took out a loan to pay for the honeymoon as she wanted to go away over the Christmas break – six months after they tied the knot.

After being recommended Hayley King by family and friends, Effi claims she contacted the travel agent over email and was reassured by how quickly she replied and how passionately she spoke about travel.

Effi alleges she booked a 12-night trip to the Maldives through Hayley King – flying out with British Airways and staying at the four-star Velassaru Hotel.

Effi’s dream holiday cost a total of £6,085 – which was half the price of any package she found online – and she alleges she had paid back £5,000 directly before the trip was cancelled.

As the travel agent allegedly told Effi she couldn’t accept Paypal transactions or debit card transfers, the newlywed claims she was sending Hayley the money directly.

She said: “She asked me to transfer the payments directly to her bank accounts and I foolishly did exactly what she asked of me.”

Eff was also reassured when British Airways sent her an e-ticket after she made her payments.

However, Effi was then contacted by a woman claiming to be Hayley’s sister a few weeks later who said she’d been in a “serious accident” and was in a stable condition in hospital.

Effi added: “She told me that if I paid the final balance straight away, it would be very likely that we would secure upgrades on the flights and accommodation.”

Last month, the newlywed was printing out the booking confirmation to surprise her husband when she was told by the travel company that her “bookings had been cancelled and no longer existed”.

It was only when she contacted the customer services team that Effi found out that she among customers who they believed had been scammed.

She then reached out to Hayley’s “sister” Claire who told her she had made the booking with a new supplier and reassured Effi that she would get a confirmation the next working day.

Although she did receive a confirmation email like Claire said, Effi started to panic when the copy was littered with spelling errors and suspicious formatting.

It was at this point that Effi contacted the new travel suppler who confirmed they’d not received her booking and found out that the hotel in the Maldives was expecting £12,000 upfront on the couple’s arrival.

Effi is now helping the police with their investigation to track down Hayley King and has raised £1,050 on her Crowdfunding page.

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