A Chinatown travel agent was indicted for allegedly swindling and stealing around $45,000 from customers — targeting the Chinese community, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. announced Tuesday.
Vivian Cheng, a 46-year-old Queens resident, has been charged in New York State Supreme Court with several counts of grand larceny in the third and fourth degrees, scheme to defraud in the first degree and one count of petit larceny.
Cheng owns Bestway Travel — also known as First Chamber and Broadview Logistics — at 12 Pell St. in Chinatown.
According to prosecutors, Cheng had several ways to scam people out of their money. In one scheme, she is accused of purchasing one-way tickets for travelers who had paid for a round trip. Prosecutors said the victims were often elderly and were unable to board their return flights, effectively stranding them. They often had to pay additional fees to get back home.
In one instance, the district attorney says Cheng charged more than $60,000 in plane tickets without the permission of the cardholder.
Sometimes Cheng did not purchase the tickets at all, but still took payment for the flights, according to the indictment.
“Victims of the alleged scheme — which included elderly individuals, adult children returning to China to visit sick parents, and families traveling together — were unable to go on their planned trips or stranded abroad with no way of returning home,” Vance said in a statement.
He recommends travelers get e-ticket numbers and keep payment documents in order to avoid fraud.
