Ponzi-style schemes to pay bookings
The Grand Palladium resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, was a swank respite in March for Leigh Anne Belcher and her daughter until they got a call to stop by the front desk about a billing question.
Their travel agency, swamped with coronavirus cancellations, had abruptly closed its doors and disconnected its phone lines – and refused to pay the hotel for the room even though Belcher had paid the agency in full for the trip.
On the spot, Belcher had to come up with thousands of dollars to pay the upscale hotel, which threatened to call authorities and advised the front-gate attendants to make sure no one escaped without paying. When she and her daughter tried to head home to Lexington, Kentucky, they had to shell out more money; their flight had been canceled, and the airline wouldn’t allow them to change it since it, too, was booked by
