Bergen County Travel Agent Promised Fake Trips, Bilked 82 Clients: Prosecutor

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A Garfield woman defrauded travel agent customers and impersonated three of her acquaintances to steal more than $850,000, said prosecutors on Thursday.

Bhavna Anand, 39, has been arrested on charges of theft by deception and impersonation after a months-long investigation, said the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Prosecutors said that Anand "assumed the identity of at least three acquaintances" on multiple occasions between January 2017 and December 2024, including borrowing a car from one acquaintance and claiming to be that person when police pulled her over in Lodi.

Prosecutors also say that she stole approximately $787,556 by using acquaintances' personal information to gain access to personal bank accounts, investment accounts, and life
insurance accounts.

Detectives also determined that beginning in January 2023, Anand, who works as a freelance travel agent, defrauded 82 customers throughout the New Jersey area of approximately $109,000 for fictitious travel arrangements.

She was arrested Wednesday in Saddle Brook and charged with two counts of second-degree theft by deception, two counts of second-degree impersonation, and two counts of third-degree impersonation, police said.

She was taken to the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack