Over 150 people have accused a former employee of a Beijing-based travel agency or defrauding them of 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) during the Spring Festival holiday. About 30 of the plaintiffs turned to the Beijing Tourism Administration (BJTA) Saturday for assistance, and the authorities are investigating.

The suspect, Lü Lili, arranged overseas trips for the plaintiffs, and allegedly kept their deposits. She was arrested on February 13.

Travel agencies in China usually demand a deposit for overseas trips to prevent Chinese tourists from staying in other countries illegally. The de-posit is supposed to be returned to the clients within three days after they get back to China.

One of the plaintiffs, surnamed Yang, said Sunday that she paid 10, 600 yuan ($1,552) to Lü as well as a 100,000 yuan ($14,640) deposit.

Lü had said she worked with Beijing Xinhua International Travel Company and that she had an official seal of the travel agency.

But an employee at the company, surnamed Xing, said Lü left the company last November, and the official seal Lü had was fake, the Beijing Times reported.

However, some of the fraud victims suspect the company may have been involved in the affair, as some deposits were remitted to company's account as Lü had requested, and the money was later transferred to Lü.

Xing responded to the accusations, acknowledging the possibility of fraud committed by the company's management.

The BJTA said it can confirm that Lü stole the deposits in the name of travel agency.

The preliminary result of the investigation is expected around March 23.

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