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Some fall victim to scams run by travel agents, who charge exorbitant fees and send them through illegal or unsafe routes, often without proper documentation.

By midday Wednesday, Canadian travel agent Micheline Dion had received another two emails from clients canceling their travel plans to the United States or voicing worries about their safety should they keep them.

A family that was targeted by scammers fear their experience has exposed a security loophole in an online travel agent's booking platform.

Publicly, companies present themselves as either travel agents or brokers for officially-approved overseas labour contracts, but in practice many also offer to smuggle people to the UK via other European countries.

Ali from Kent, who did not want to give his full name, said he tried to book flights from a travel agent he found online.