Durban - CEO of so-called travel agency Hello Darlings, Tasneem Moosa, has denied the allegations made against her that she stole millions of rand from clients and fled South Africa.
Moosa was speaking during a live interview on GlowTV.
Moosa said that it was public knowledge that she has lived overseas for the past three years. She said November 2021 was the last time she had been in South Africa.
She said Hello Darlings was not a scam but a poorly run business which compounded its trade losses.
Moosa, who has since been dubbed the “Holiday Swindler”, explained that she has been advised to take the liquidation route for Hello Darlings.
Moosa also confirmed that her travel agency she has registered in Dubai, a place she moved to in 2020, is a completely separate entity from Hello Darlings. The Dubai company is listed as Femme Voyages.
Breaking down in tears during the interview, Moosa said she had received numerous death threats.
She said she disabled her social media accounts because people could track her and not because she ran away with clients’ money.
The journalist interviewing Moosa asked her whether she thought Hello Darlings was a pyramid scheme.
“I don’t know what the definition of a pyramid scheme is but my intention was never a pyramid scheme. So if I ran into a loss, I sold another trip to pay for a current trip. Maybe that qualifies as the definition of a pyramid scheme, but the intention was never for it to be a scheme. When I started to get into trouble, I advertised more trips in order to fulfil those trips,” Moosa said.
“People are saying I tried to con people out of money and build a nest egg. There’s nothing of the sort, there is no nest egg. I am not sitting with a ton of money, there is no money. But the advice that I have been given, which is obviously very valid, is to go into liquidation so that at least something can be recovered and be paid out to people.
“If you ask if there's a plan or if I’m sitting on millions of rands that I could pay back to people, no. I am not sitting on millions of rands that I can pay back to people but through the liquidation process, ” Moosa said.
Hello Darlings was run through a Centurion-based company called The Human Marketing Academy, according to Moosa.
More than 200 cases of fraud and theft have been opened at various police stations across South Africa by aggrieved residents.
A group formed on Telegram, which has more than 3 000 members, have combined their efforts to try and locate Moosa and retrieve their funds.
Last week, social media influencer Modesty by Bash alleged that the overseas holidays started off as women empowerment programmes.
Influencers marketed the company in exchange for money, partially paid and sometimes free trips. Angry group members demanded that the influencers be held accountable for their actions.
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