Yucatán youth soccer team victims of alleged travel agency fraud

Families of the Yucatán B youth soccer team are alleging they were victims of a major fraud by a Cancún-based travel agency. The group had contracted the agency to transport approximately 50 to 55 people to Tijuana for a national championship scheduled from October 21 to 27. Total payments made to the agency reached nearly 500,000 pesos.

According to the affected families, the agency initially claimed flights were canceled due to airline overbooking. However, airline personnel later informed travelers that the reservations had actually been canceled by the agency itself. The families allege a scheme where payments were made via card to generate boarding passes, only for the agency to subsequently cancel the transactions with the bank.

Of the 18 players called up for the tournament, only six managed to reach Tijuana. Many of those who arrived found that their hotel reservations, which the agency had promised to cover, were also non-existent. Families are now working to raise funds to assist those stranded and to cover the return travel for approximately 20 people currently in Tijuana without guaranteed lodging or sufficient resources.