A Miracle too good to be true

Miracle Travel Limited, a job-placement service contracted by a group of Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) students to secure employment under the United States J-1 visa summer work and travel programme in 2020, has come under growing scrutiny for an information blackout after pleas for the refund of thousands of US dollars.

Students who made contact with The Gleaner explained that they were first introduced to the company through representatives who visited the university campus and handed out flyers advertising the agency’s services.

At the time, the company was also listed on the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s website and showcased on Miracle’s Facebook page bearing images of fellow CMU students who had gone overseas on the programme through the agency.

That shiny promotion attracted one CMU student, who requested anonymity, to register for the 2019-2020 programme. She began making plans to leave the island in the hopes of earning a reasonable income to fund her education.

But the students’ plans crashed when the world was struck by the COVID-19 pandemic, which made travel increasingly difficult, or impossible, as nations pulled down the shutters on inbound passenger traffic for weeks or months.

The charges levied on participants in the work-and-travel programme vary from US$900 to US$1,800. The majority of them secure work in resorts, hotels, restaurants, and amusement parks in non-skilled service positions.

The CMU student mentioned earlier said she paid up to US$2,000 in fees to work in the summer of 2020 but was informed by Philan Minott, manager of Miracle Travel, that the programme was suspended until the following year.

That was in line with the announcement made by then United States President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order in 2020 suspending all employment-based immigration for the rest of the year.

Many tertiary students were then charged a US$400 cancellation fee by work-and-travel agencies across the island, while others were later promised refunds in 2021.

Miracle Travel Limited was reportedly among those who made those promises.

Repeated attempts to contact Minott by telephone have been unsuccessful, as calls have not been answered.

Students said they were assured that their position in the programme was secure for the following summer, but communication between Minott and the students went dead for months.

“Somehow, he convinced me and others to roll over the money from 2020 over into 2021 ... [but] we were just there waiting, not hearing from him, wanting to know what happened, and then communication was just lost,” she said of the dilemma.

As the time to travel neared with no word from the agency, concern grew among the students, causing them to contact their US-based sponsor, United Work and Travel, which informed them that no payments were ever paid over for their travel.

“I don’t know what became of the money. When we asked for the money on numerous occasions, he just didn’t give a proper excuse. I just don’t know what happened,” said one student.

Since the two-year ordeal, students have been in receipt of numerous emails from the company about refunds to be issued.

One email dated September 28, 2021, read: “We understand that waiting can be challenging. This period has also been challenging for the company. Nonetheless, we are 100 per cent committed to putting the company in the position to complete the remaining funds. Lastly, we are not trying to run or shy away from the responsibility as we, too, want this frustrating chapter behind us both.”

But despite that reassurance, some students are convinced that the company has not given them the full story.

“At first, I didn’t want to believe but I most certainly do now,” one said.

Miracle Travel, which was incorporated in November 2019 and operated from Melmac Avenue in Cross Roads, has remained closed since students raised alarm over the unreturned sums. A ministry listing references a Constant Spring Road location.

Another student disclosed that after paying US$1,550 for an opportunity to travel and earn in order to finance her tuition, she has instead been left in insurmountable debt, owing to numerous loans with a tuition backlog of nearly half a million dollars.

“Is the mercy a God that allowed me to even be in the institution owing them so much money, because anybody knowing university, not even a dollar you not supposed to owe them,” that student said.

One student expressed that she had been trying to communicate with the university for an explanation but ran into roadblocks there.

Similarly, CMU has not responded to Gleaner requests for a statement despite receiving queries more than a week ago.

Students who reported eventually getting a hold of Minott said they were told that he had spent their monies on “operational costs”.

“Everybody was in a frenzy to know that you pay so much money, you take out loan, and you nah go. Some of we have to sit out college for that semester, some of we still nuh start college for third year,” a student exclaimed.

After months of investigative work, the students tracked down some of Minott’s family members on social media and sought their assistance as mediators in appealing for their refunds, but little progress has been made.

“We’ve been trying for months now just to have somebody hear us,” a student lamented, adding that others have gone to both the Kingston Central and Cross Roads police stations to file complaints but reported that cops turned them away, saying it was a civil, not criminal, matter.

The last time students heard from the company was in March when Minott continued giving empty promises and reportedly threatened to take legal action for unsavoury allegations on social media.

Deshawn Cooke, vice president of the Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students (JUTS), said in February that he was not aware of the situation and that no concerns have been brought to him formally. He said that he was aware that some students had received refunds from other agencies since not being able to travel in 2020.

“I would encourage persons to reach out to us and provide us with all the information they have on these persons ... . Anything that can be used to track them down,” said Cooke.

In March, Cooke informed The Gleaner that the JUTS had “been working relentlessly to have the matter resolved”.

In response to Gleaner questions posed March 16, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security stated that this was not an unfamiliar case of questionable activity involving job-placement agencies.

“In the past, operators have been taken before the court and ordered to refund monies to students,” said the ministry on March 29.

No further details were offered on timelines and number of flagged cases.

The ministry was unable to confirm the company’s tax status, but did say that being tax compliant was a requirement for obtaining a licence.

A ministry representative explained that in order to ensure legitimacy, companies applying for licence must undergo vigorous vetting, including a preliminary interview with operators of the business. They are also advised of the requirements of the Employment Agencies Regulation Act.

Background checks are to be conducted by the police and the Office of the Supervisor of Insolvency within the labour ministry to determine whether the owner of the business is or was bankrupt.

Miracle Travel Ltd, at the time, met all the requirements and was granted a licence.

However, as the licence is valid for only one year, Miracle Travel would have been removed because of the expiration of those terms.

No effort has been made to renew the licence since then, said the ministry.

The labour ministry has advised those students who are owed thousands of dollars to make contact with its office to file a formal complaint against the agency, which would trigger an investigation.

In other cases, students can report the incident and give a statement to the police, which may result in the operator being charged and prosecuted.

Students may also file a suit with the Supreme Court.

Though not specifically addressing the Miracle Travel situation, acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Cleon March acknowledged that fraud allegations soared in the heights of the coronavirus pandemic, as many persons left themselves vulnerable in their quest to travel abroad.

“From time to time, we’ve seen a proliferation of these so-called agencies popping up, and Jamaicans love to travel overseas and work, and so it seems attractive to a lot, especially youngsters who are both skilled and unskilled, ... only to run into problems later on where they no longer can communicate with some of these persons who are soliciting business,” March said.

The police, he said, have used social-media educational efforts to urge people to conduct due-diligence checks before handing over money to organisations.

“It’s been going on for a long time and we’ve succeeded in convicting quite a few of these persons, but it still persists,” he said, adding that that fraudsters tend to shutter operations quickly.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com