Victim of Hello Darlings holiday scam describes experience as ’mentally and physically sickening’

Tasneem Moosa, the CEO of fraudulent travel agency Hallo Darlings has allegedly disappeared with more than R100 million in client money. Picture: Supplied.

Tasneem Moosa, the CEO of fraudulent travel agency Hallo Darlings has allegedly disappeared with more than R100 million in client money. Picture: Supplied.

Published Mar 9, 2022

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Durban: A victim who was allegedly swindled out of her hard-earned money after booking a holiday with fraudulent travel agency Hello Darlings, has described the harrowing experience as physically and mentally sickening.

Micara Geeanpersadh, from Johannesburg, said she had booked a holiday to Istanbul, Turkey for June this year, at a cost of R44 992.

It was going to be the first trip overseas that she, her sister and their mom were going to take.

Geeanpersadh said she paid the amount in full only to wake up to the news that CEO Tasneem Moosa had disappeared with her clients’ money.

“After finding out yesterday that Tasneem Moosa, who is the CEO of Hello Darlings, fled with the money of my family as well as thousands of others, it has been physically and mentally sickening.

“Speaking on behalf of my family, this was going to be our first overseas trip, my sister and I funded this trip to be able to take our mum along as well. It is our hard-earned money that has been stolen and I can only hope that we recover it.

“So far, we have opened up a fraud case with our bank, FNB. We have also opened up a case with the SAPS,” Geeanpersadh told IOL.

On the invoice Geeanpersadh sent to IOL, the payment was made to a company called “The Human Marketing Academy”.

Further investigations revealed that the company was created in 2016, according to b2b hint. Tasneem Moosa and Abdurahman Moosa are listed as directors of the company.

The company is at 446 Senorita Street, Erasmia, in Gauteng province. A search indicates that the company is in a residential area in Centurion.

A Google Maps screenshot of the address listed as the headquarters of The Human Marketing Agency, the company victims paid for their holidays. Image: Screenshot/GoogleMaps.

The Hello Darlings website and its social media handles have been deactivated since her disappearance.

The home page of the Hello Darlings websites says the site has been disabled. Image: Screenshot.

Moosa has allegedly scammed thousands of unsuspecting victims of more than R100 million.

This is a developing story.

IOL