Travel website conman 'not wanted' by police

Jamie Paul Day is "not wanted" by the police in connection with allegations that he defrauded at least four foreigners out of deposits for non-existent apartments on a travel website.

"No reports from any victims were lodged with St Julian's police station in relation to the article (printed in The Sunday Times)," the police said.

The newspaper reported on January 17 that two foreign women paid deposits via Western Union to Mr Day to rent out rooms in seemingly plush apartments in Sliema and St Julian's advertised in the popular Malta 'Housing and Rentals' section of justlanded.com. All contact with Mr Day, 31, who is on a three-year probation in Malta for credit card fraud, ceased when they transferred the money.

Despite the police saying no report had been lodged by victims, the two women mentioned in the original article, Carolina Seez and Marian Guyomarc'h, insisted they tried to report the scam at St Julian's police station on January 11.

They said they were informed by a female police officer on the desk they had to report the scam to the inspector who arraigned Mr Day for credit card fraud last November.

The women claimed they attempted to call the inspector using the number the officer gave them on January 13, but there was no answer.

When The Sunday Times contacted the inspector that week and offered to hand over possible evidence against Mr Day, he said the women should report the crime in the locality where it took place.

He also said that despite Mr Day being on probation, "he is always changing his address so I can't know where he lives".

Contacted yesterday, Ms Guyomarc'h said: "I will not be reporting the crime again because I don't think anything will happen. I don't feel completely safe here because it seems the police do nothing. From my experience, it is very difficult to report a crime."

On January 24, The Sunday Times reported another five foreigners had come forward claiming to be victims of a similar scam on the website, two of whom paid deposits to Mr Day.

One of the victims, a Frenchman who did not wish to be named, used a fake identity to lure Mr Day to a Moneygram outlet in St Julian's last December and retrieved his money. The Frenchman confirmed that the passport scans and photos of Mr Day sent to victims are actually of the perpetrator himself.

The Frenchman did not report the scam to the police because he retrieved his money, while a Swedish victim, Åsa Ljusenius, arrived in Malta last Sunday and plans to file a police report next week.

The police did not respond last week when asked if they knew of Mr Day's whereabouts.