Hey everyone,

I am setting up this JustGiving page for my big sister. She hasn’t asked me to do this, I am just so devastated for her and really want to do as much as I can to help her and my brother in law out.

My sister was robbed of her honeymoon and scammed out of over £5000 and just found out she is not getting any of it back.

I don’t want to seem like I’m taking the p*ss but I really want to do my best to help my sister and her husband get the honeymoon they deserve. This scam has put them in an awful state, and I wouldn’t want anyone to be in this situation let alone my sister.

Any money raised would go towards a honeymoon for them with 10% of the total going to charity, any help would be much appreciated. If you would like to contribute any amount whatsoever, I’m sure my sister and bro in law would really appreciate it.

Take a read of her below social media post to see what has happened…

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Never in a million years did I think I would be a victim to a holiday scam.

My mum was a travel agent for 30 years and had her own travel agency in London. She always told me what to be aware of , what to check for, what to believe etc.... This time I guess I was just super naïve , far too trusting and had my guard down.

What can I say Hayley King, you scammed me out of £5000 and my dream honeymoon. You made what should have been a great experience quite simply AWFUL!!! You are a CRUEL, manipulative individual and I seriously do not know how you sleep at night.

I got married on the 1st of June 2019 and although the wedding got me into a huge amount of debt, it was the best day of my life and worth every penny. Even though we could not afford a honeymoon I thought that it was really important, especially before we had kids. I had my heart set on going away with my new husband at Christmas and took out a loan to pay for the honeymoon. Hayley King came recommended by a few friends who had booked holidays with her, some had already travelled , others were pending for 2019 & 2020.

I contacted Hayley via an email address that belonged to Around The World Travel. I told her what I was looking for and she got back to me so quickly, not only was she quick and very cheap but she was so kind too. Very warm, sharing her life stories with me. Details of her parents, her children, we emailed regularly and I trusted her.

Through Hayley I booked to travel to the Maldives for 12 nights. The flights and accommodation came to £6085, so much cheaper than anything I could find online , almost half the price.

I asked her loads of questions, she told me that the discount came through the long standing relationships she had with her providers and that my booking was protected by ATOL & ABTA (she lied and my guard was clearly down).

I went on to pay Hayley 3 payments totalling to around £5000 , I only had one more payment to make. She told me that her providers did not accept debit or credit cards form the general public as they were a trade company so I had to transfer the money to her bank account, one bank account in the name of ATWT , the other bank account in the name of King & King. I foolishly did exactly what she said.

When the payments were made I received e-tickets from the airline and an accommodation voucher, I was SUPER excited, my dream trip to the MALDIVES was actually happening (yeah ok!!!!) ….

A few weeks had passed after my third payment, I still had some money outstanding to pay but according to the paperwork it was not due until October.

A lady called "CLAIRE" Hayley "SISTER" got in contact with me and told me that if I paid the final balance I would be very likely to get upgrades on the flights and accommodation. I told her that was great news and told her I would pay the money at the end of August when I got paid.

I asked "Claire" if Hayley was ok and to send her my love as I was told she was in hospital after a horrific car accident. Hmmm?????!!!

On Saturday the 17th of August it was my husbands birthday and I was going to surprise him with the details of our honeymoon by slipping the booking confirmation and flight details into his birthday card but as I went to print the confirmations off I was alerted by the travel company that my bookings had been cancel and no longer exist. I called the travel company (NOT HAYLEY KING/ CLAIRE KING) and they told me that they could not go into details but I was part of a long list of people who have been scammed by Hayley King and there was a fraud investigation going on which she was smack bang in the middle of.

My heart jumped in my throat, I was devastated. I got in touch with Claire and told her that my booking had been cancelled and I asked her if she knew why and what was going on. I was calm and kind, I did not want her to think that I knew what was going on as I had a sneaky feeling she would just disappear. So I played the game, she told me that there was an issue with the supplier and she made my booking through a new supplier of which I would receive the confirmation on Monday.

Monday came, I received a new confirmation but it was strange. The format was weird, email addresses had clearly been deleted , there were spelling errors and this booking confirmation did not look legitimate.

I had a careful read of the confirmation and found a reference to the provider she "booked it through".. I googled them and gave them a call...… MY BOOKING WAS BOGUS.... COMPLETE BOGUS!!!

I called the hotel that I was supposed to be travelling to in the Maldives and they told me that they received a personal public booking through a random email address via booking . Com , Nothing had been paid, the balance would be due on arrival and the total balance was £12,000..... I mean WOW Hayley King, you were going to send me to Maldives (providing I got myself on a flight after you cancelled the ones I booked with you) and I was going to be presented with a £12,000 hotel bill. I have no words to describe how VILE this is.... Cruel, nasty , just disgusting.

I contacted my bank and told them the situation. They told me that my money is not protected against bank transfers, if only I knew. BUT they did tell me that they can report the transactions I made to her as a SCAM which would block her accounts. I agreed and went forward with the claim, after all as hard as it was to admit that I had be scammed and there was not going to be a honeymoon and my money had gone, I was in fact a victim to a horribly holiday scam and I finally came to terms with it.

"CLAIRE"/ Hayley King, got in touch with me and asked if I had reported her , at this stage I wanted to keep her on side so I said no and that my bank had flagged the transaction for my protection. I told her that my bank advised that I keep the transaction flagged until further investigation.

At this stage Claire/Hayley was clearly frustrated , I could sense her annoyance in her emails even though she was trying to cover it up....

She went on to say …

"you have been through a lot and I am sorry for the stress this has caused you. It looks like we have 2 choices her ;

1) You tell your bank that you voluntarily made the transactions and lift the flag on my account so I can go ahead and refund you.

OR

2) You pay the remaining balance of the booking so that the provider can pay your booking in full and then you know that there is no way it can be cancelled" (I CHUCKLED TO MYSELF, called my bank, told them what she said and pleaded with them to try and get my money back.

I had no intention of withdrawing my claim as she STOLE my money and I wanted it back but I went back to Hayley/Claire and said to her that the only way I would tell the banks to remove the flag is if she sent me her passport and address....

Claire sent me Hayley's passport and full address. I have no idea if it is legit as the GIRL/BOY/ANIMAL is a compulsive , thieving , CRUEL, HEARTLESS LYING TOAD!!!!

It is still in the hands of my bank but my flights have been cancelled, my hotel has been cancelled, she has my money and I have no honeymoon.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT BOOK HAYLEY KING, CLAIRE KING, Around The World Travel, Hayley Obrien and even avoid TRAVEL JUNCTION and Dial 4 Travel, there seems to be some kind of connection.

When it is too good to be true, it probably really is too good to be true.