This post is part of Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.” This series offers insight into the issue of statelessness and how it hinders people’s freedom of movement, educational opportunities, political access, and more. You can support this coverage by donating here.

The travel agency business in Haiti has slowly become what many people now describe as a scam industry. Legitimate travel agencies have existed in the country for years, but as Haiti’s social, economic and political crises have become more dire, citizens are seeking ways to leave the country.

For young people especially, as armed gangs control entire areas, businesses close, and unemployment increases, the country no longer seems to offer any real future, and this has spurred the proliferation of under-the-table travel shops. Once they have made their profit, many of these establishments disappear as quickly as they appear, feeding off of Haitians’ growing sense of insecurity.

A similar reality holds true in the neighbouring Dominican Republic (DR), where a large Haitian community lives, most of them in irregular situations. Because of the Dominican immigration system’s rigidity toward Haitians, many of them cannot work legally or regularize their status. They therefore rely on financial support sent by relatives who live abroad, primarily in the United States. As a result, the Dominican Republic often becomes a temporary stop while they search for opportunities to migrate elsewhere.

Since they are undocumented, the vast majority of Haitians ripped off by fake travel agencies in the DR can’t even step into a police station or prosecutor’s office to file a complaint. They are terrified that seeking help will backfire and lead to them being arrested and deported.

The situation has created an entire market around migration, with unscrupulous individuals taking advantage of desperate Haitians searching for a better life abroad. Fake travel agencies advertise heavily on Facebook, TikTok and other social media platforms; some even pay influencers or public personalities to promote their services online, in an attempt to make people trust them more easily.

From an administrative standpoint, opening a travel agency in Haiti is not a complicated undertaking, as oversight remains weak. While authorised agencies are operating legally in the country, many others exist only to exploit already vulnerable people who are trying to escape gang violence, poverty and instability. Because this demographic usually does not meet the normal financial or administrative requirements needed for official migration programmes, they become easy targets for risky and unregulated travel offers.

One of the most discussed recent cases involves Mackenson Dorilas, a well-known spiritual figure who people refer to as “Prophet Mackenson.” He reportedly signed an advertising agreement with a travel agency called Fidélité Tours, appearing in the company’s promotional videos encouraging people to travel to Canada, Mexico and Brazil.

During an episode of the popular morning show “Se sa nou vle” (“That is what we want”) on the Team Rudy Officiel YouTube channel, host Rudy Thomas Sanon said he had received complaints from several alleged victims linked to Fidelité Tours.

According to testimonies shared during the show, people said they trusted the agency because Prophet Mackenson publicly promoted it. Some victims explained that they went directly to the agency’s office in Pétion-Ville and each paid around USD 4,000 to organise trips out of Haiti.

On the show, Sanon stated:

Moun yo di mwen yo peye ajans la 4000 dola ameriken pou vwayaje ak yo Meksik. Ajans la pran 4000 dola ameriken nan men 80 moun, sa ki fè 320,000 dola ameriken, epi li disparèt. Lè moun yo ale nan biwo ajans la, li te fèmen, yo pa jwenn okenn moun.

People tell me they paid the agency USD 4,000 to travel to Mexico with them. The agency collected USD 4,000 from 80 people, totalling USD 320,000, and then disappeared. When the people went to the agency’s office, it was closed, and they found no one there.

In other cases, fake agencies allegedly provide counterfeit visas to clients, who usually only discover the fraud after arriving at the airport, when airline staff or immigration officers reject the documents. Reports published in Haitian media outlets, including Le Nouvelliste and AyiboPost, have documented similar situations involving fake visas.

In one instance, the Consulate of Haiti in Montreal, Canada, issued a notice informing Haitian citizens that unscrupulous individuals were creating fake websites and Facebook pages using the names of the Consulate and the Consul-General.

In the Dominican Republic, meanwhile, victims attest that they handed over money, passports and identification photos to agencies promising travel opportunities. A few days later, phone numbers stop working, and offices are suddenly abandoned. In such situations, people lose not only their savings, but their official documents as well.

During Se sa nou vle’s June 9, 2026 broadcast, Prophet Mackenson defended himself by saying that the agency’s owner, a pastor identified as Claudy Jean François, had presented himself as a serious Christian businessman. Mackenson claimed he requested legal documents and evidence of previous organised trips before agreeing to promote the company and sign the publicity contract.

On July 8, 2026, the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) in Haiti detained Prophet Mackenson in connection with the case, based on victims’ filed complaints that he had encouraged them to use the services of this scam travel agency. According to the Government Commissioner of Port-au-Prince Fritz Patterson Dorval, the case has since been sent to an investigating judge following new complaints from victims, who reported giving a total of USD 61,000 directly to Mackenson — a contradiction to his claims that he only had an advertising contract with the travel agency.

This case is far from isolated. Across Haitian social media, testimonies about fraudulent travel agencies appear almost every week, with most of these agencies asking for between USD 3,500 and 5,000 for trips supposedly destined for Mexico, Brazil and other countries. In many situations, the promised travel never actually happens.

Another victim, who agreed to share her story using the pseudonym “Murielle,” has been living in the Dominican Republic for more than three years. Her relatives abroad paid thousands of US dollars to an individual claiming to organise trips to Mexico:

Mwen rele’l nan telefòn, mwen pa janm jwenn li depi kèk jou apre nou te fin remet li 3600 dola ameriken an. Se frè mwen ak pitit mwen Ozetazini ki te peye lajan sa pou mwen.

I have been trying to reach him by phone, but I haven’t been able to get in touch with him for a few days since we handed over the USD 3,600 to him. It was my brother and my child in the United States who paid that money for me.

Most of these fraudulent agencies operate using almost the same strategy. They temporarily rent office spaces, run aggressive online advertisements, and sometimes even use AI-generated travel videos to appear legitimate. Some hire comedians, influencers or local personalities to help build trust with potential clients. Over the last few years, thousands of Haitians are believed to have lost money through these schemes.

One major difficulty for victims is the lack of legal proof. In many cases, people only receive handwritten receipts after giving away thousands of dollars. Haiti’s weak judicial system makes prosecutions rare, and only in exceptional situations are scammers actually arrested or prosecuted.

In the DR, Murielle has not taken any legal action against the fake travel agent because it could put her migratory status in jeopardy:

Mwen pat deside pote plent paske sa ap mete mwen nan plis problem, si mwen fe sa otorite lapolis yo ap tou arete mwen, remet mwen bay sevis imigrasyon, epi depote mwen Ayiti, ou deja konnen mwen paka tounen nan zonn bo lakay mwen akoz zonn sa se gang ki kontwole li, pifo mounn nan zonn te kouri kite li akoz zak kriminel gang 400 Mawozo an, mwen reziye mwen pedi lajan sa.

I decided not to file a complaint because that would get me into more trouble. If I do that, the police authorities will just arrest me, hand me over to immigration services, and deport me to Haiti. You already know I can’t go back to my neighbourhood because it’s controlled by gangs. Most people in the area fled because of the criminal acts of the 400 Mawozo gang. I have resigned myself to losing that money.

She has no documents to prove what happened because she didn’t sign anything; moreover, she wasn’t the one who handed over the money — her family overseas transferred the funds directly to the person involved.

Certain agencies did previously organise real migration routes involving Mexico or Brazil, using countries like Nicaragua as transit points before moving migrants through Central America toward the Mexican border. Similar routes were also employed for Brazil through Bolivia, Guyana or Colombia, before these countries reinforced migration controls and increased border security.

For many Haitians attempting to reach Mexico, the United States remains the final destination, even though migration pathways have become far more difficult since January 2025, when President Donald Trump was reelected for his second term.

Despite these challenges, desperation continues to push many Haitians to search for ways out. Between gang violence and unemployment, countless families feel trapped to the point where they sell properties or rely on relatives abroad to finance these dangerous migration attempts — and too often, after all the sacrifices and money spent, the promised trips never happen.