CALIFORNIA – California Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Mateo District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe announced June 25, a settlement with Nawas International Travel Service (Nawas). 

The settlement addresses Nawas’s failure to provide full refunds to consumers for trips cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It includes at least $567,138 in restitution to affected California travelers, $560,000 in civil penalties, and bans Nawas from imposing cancellation fees that violate California law. 

“Travel agents operating in California must comply with California’s strong consumer protection laws, which includes providing timely refunds for cancelled travel,” said Bonta. 

Company offers tours to religious sites

Nawas offers tours to religious sites worldwide, including the Middle East and Europe. It markets its tours largely through clergy and many of Nawas’s travelers are senior citizens.

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nawas cancelled hundreds of international tours. 

After the cancellation, rather than refunding the full amount of the travelers’ deposits and tour payments, Nawas unlawfully withheld “cancellation fees” of between $200 and $1,150 per traveler.

In all, Nawas withheld approximately $560,000 in what they termed cancellation fees from approximately 600 California travelers. 

Violated the California Seller of Travel Act

Nawas violated the California Seller of Travel Act by failing to issue required refunds for cancelled travel. 

The company claimed it could withhold fees under its terms, but the Seller of Travel Act prohibits this where, as here, the seller of travel is unable or unwilling to provide the purchased travel. 

The Attorney General’s Office operates the Seller of Travel Program, which registers travel agents and certain other travel businesses operating in California.

The attorney general and district attorneys can bring enforcement actions against sellers of travel for violations of the law. 

They encourage any Californian who believes they have been wronged by a seller of travel to contact their local district attorney and file a complaint with their office at ‪www.oag.ca.gov/report.

Deceptive business practices in the travel industry

Bonta said he’s committed to investigating and remedying harm to consumers affected by unlawful and deceptive business practices, including in the travel industry:

Earlier this year, Bonta secured a 9-year sentence for Iqbal Randhawa for defrauding more than a dozen members of the South Asian immigrant community in Northern California.

Between 2017 and 2020, each victim hired Randhawa, a travel agent, to purchase airline tickets, paying him between $1,100 and $12,000. Instead of buying the tickets, Randhawa provided fraudulent itineraries and stole the funds.

Also last year, Bonta and San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan announced the sentencing of Marie Martin, a San Diego travel agent who embezzled travel funds from more than 150 parents who paid for eighth-grade school trips to the East Coast. 

After the school trips were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Martin refused to provide refunds to the parents, instead spending funds on personal expenses.

Following her guilty plea, Martin was sentenced to six months of home confinement and six months of felony probation. She paid $256,997.65 in restitution to victims.