Israel Police, Jerusalem District yesterday revealed suspected fraud against thousands of customers in ticket sales for flights to Uman, Ukraine before Rosh Hashana amounting to over $1 million. The police arrested three people suspected of fraud.
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court granted the police request yesterday to extend the remand of the two suspects until September 6. The third suspect was also expected in court for a hearing on the extension of his remand.
The police investigation began following two complaints by people who said that they had bought tickets to Uman, where they planned to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with thousands of Israelis.
The tickets were purchased for $635 from a travel company named Europnim. The complainants said that one day before the flight date, the company notified its customers that it was unable to fulfill its part in the deal and the tickets were canceled.
The police investigators began a vigorous investigation. The initial conclusions aroused suspicion that large-scale fraud affecting over 2,000 people was involved, most of whom were haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews).
As the investigation progressed, the police arrested two 29 year-old suspects from Beitar Illit and Beit Shemesh, owners of the Europnim company, early this week. They were questioned on suspicion of aggravated fraud, forgery, money laundering, and other offenses.
The police investigation indicates that the suspects drew up a contract with a person residing overseas representing an airline operating flights between Israel and Ukraine. The suspects ordered over airplane 2,000 tickets with a total value of $1.3 million. The investigation also showed that the suspects conspired with another suspect from Givatayim, who was arrested earlier this week at Ben Gurion Airport, allegedly trying to flee Israel.
The police investigators suspect that none of the money received by the three suspects from selling the tickets was sent to an overseas representative of the airline; the three suspects allegedly embezzled the money and used it for their personal benefit and for money laundering.
The police said that the damage to the company's customers, who found themselves a few days before Rosh Hashanah with no airline tickets, was in the millions of shekels. Some of the customers were forced to buy new tickets from other airlines in order to fly to Uman.
The police appealed to the people who bought tickets from this company and/or suffered damage from the same pattern of behavior to go to the police station and file complaints.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 5, 2018
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