Hello Darlings’ CEO Tasneem Moosa insists that she didn’t steal anyone’s money but lost it through poor business practices
|Published
Alleged ’Holiday Swindler’ Tasneem Moosa, CEO of Hello Darlings. Photo: Yusuf Abramjee/Twitter
Johannesburg - The so-called Holiday Swindler has broken her silence, claiming she didn’t steal anyone’s money, but lost it all through poor business practices.
In a statement, Tasneem Moosa – who is facing criminal charges after allegedly defrauding people who had paid her for overseas trips – said she was in hiding after receiving death threats.
“I do not have millions with me or in any accounts. I have not disappeared, or run away with peoples monies,” she said in the statement, said to have been released by Moosa.
It was thought that Moosa had skipped the country and was either in Dubai, Turkey or Mauritius. This after people in Johannesburg and Durban claim she owed them money, after trips she had planned for them fell through. A social media page dedicated to her alleged swindling has over three thousand members. Some of them have opened criminal cases against her.
Moosa, who goes by the name Tazz Moosa, operated a company called Hello Darlings, which offered travel packages to overseas destinations. Her travel agency was run through her other company, Human Marketing Capital. The agency, which arranged travel packages for women, even relied on social media influencers to punt its offerings.
Her victims say she made off with at least R100 million.
In her statement,however, Moosa denies this.
“The list of refunds which has been released amounts to a total of R26 million and not hundreds of millions as has been reported. Of this figure, about R7-10 million has been paid back. Again this will be verified by the various authorities involved by using our bank statements of the only accounts we have.” she wrote.
She said Human Marketing Capital would be liquidated and the proceeds used to pay back monies owed.
Moosa also blamed her woes on the fact that she had allowed people to pay off their trips monthly with whatever money they could afford.
“I have tried to fulfil refunds for months, in whatever manner I could. I resorted to begging former investors to assist me. I even eventually went to existing guests to assist me to fulfil these refunds and future travel costs.”
Moosa did, however, take the opportunity to threaten those who had posted pictures of her children. She said she was taking legal action, and that the safety of her children was why she had gone into hiding.
She didn’t say where she was in hiding, or if she would be handing herself over to the authorities.