Post by Chattanooga Police on Oct 3, 2008 20:23:14 GMT -5
Friday, October 03, 2008
Chattanooga Police have been alerted to a possible travel agency scam that recently visited our area. A series of seminars promoted by Royal Palm Vacation was conducted at the Hilton Garden Inn located at 311 Chestnut Street back in August of this year. The group advertised vacations at a major discount as compared to regular travel agencies.
After receiving a complaint about the company, an officer looked deeper into the business and found that there’s an open investigation on the company that’s based out of Florida . The Florida Attorney General’s Office advised that they’ve received several complaints against United Vacation Travel and found that it has conducted sales under various names. Suncoast Vacations, Suncoast LLC, Travel Services USA, United Vacation Network, Capital Finance, CER Suncoast Vacations, (SVI) & Royal Palm Vacation are aliases of the company who misrepresented itself by not delivering as promised.
The representatives of the company that came to Chattanooga told potential clients that they were based out of Reno , Nevada but officials in Reno advised that the address listed, 318 California Ave. suite # 922 , was nothing more than a PO Box. Their office then changed to another address of 3500 Lakeside Court Suite 208 but was nothing more than a small unoccupied office.
Florida officials looked further into the company and found that it was formerly owned by Donna Loher of San Antonio , TX . Loher was killed in November of last year after a domestic dispute with an ex-boyfriend. One of Loher’s three sons took over the company which at that time was called United Vacation Travel. Since taking over the business, complaints have come in about suspicious practices.
Chattanooga Police encourage anyone in the area who is a victim of this scam to notify the Florida Attorney General’s fraud hotline at 1-866-966-7226. They will be working all cases involving this scam.
Sergeant Jerri Weary, PIO
Chattanooga Police Department
Chattanooga Police have been alerted to a possible travel agency scam that recently visited our area. A series of seminars promoted by Royal Palm Vacation was conducted at the Hilton Garden Inn located at 311 Chestnut Street back in August of this year. The group advertised vacations at a major discount as compared to regular travel agencies.
After receiving a complaint about the company, an officer looked deeper into the business and found that there’s an open investigation on the company that’s based out of Florida . The Florida Attorney General’s Office advised that they’ve received several complaints against United Vacation Travel and found that it has conducted sales under various names. Suncoast Vacations, Suncoast LLC, Travel Services USA, United Vacation Network, Capital Finance, CER Suncoast Vacations, (SVI) & Royal Palm Vacation are aliases of the company who misrepresented itself by not delivering as promised.
The representatives of the company that came to Chattanooga told potential clients that they were based out of Reno , Nevada but officials in Reno advised that the address listed, 318 California Ave. suite # 922 , was nothing more than a PO Box. Their office then changed to another address of 3500 Lakeside Court Suite 208 but was nothing more than a small unoccupied office.
Florida officials looked further into the company and found that it was formerly owned by Donna Loher of San Antonio , TX . Loher was killed in November of last year after a domestic dispute with an ex-boyfriend. One of Loher’s three sons took over the company which at that time was called United Vacation Travel. Since taking over the business, complaints have come in about suspicious practices.
Chattanooga Police encourage anyone in the area who is a victim of this scam to notify the Florida Attorney General’s fraud hotline at 1-866-966-7226. They will be working all cases involving this scam.
Sergeant Jerri Weary, PIO
Chattanooga Police Department