Man charged in vacation scam now under investigation for home improvement con

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I (WLNE) – An East Providence man is facing charges after police say he scammed a group out of thousands of dollars for a fake vacation.

Anthony DeBarros, 57, admitted to police that he falsely arranged a vacation to Aruba for 58 people, each of whom paid DeBarros $1,000 for the trip. 

DeBarros was arrested Saturday and charged with obtaining money under false pretenses and unlawful appropriation.

Police say DeBarros lied to his own friends, posing as a travel agent, and started collecting money from them in March. The group of 58 people started to get worried when they didn’t receive an itinerary and were not getting answers from DeBarros.

“Eventually it was determined he set this up. He needed the funds, in his words ‘to pay bills and purchase some things’. Unfortunately, he did that to a lot of people,” said East Providence Police Lieutenant Raymond Blinn.

Since word spread of the vacation scam, police say they’ve been getting calls from more potential victims.

“Mr. Debarros possibly scammed them out of some home renovations that they paid for, and that were never finished or never even started,” said Blinn.

If anyone believes they fell victim to DeBarros’s scams, they are encouraged to reach out to the detective division of the East Providence Police Department at (401)-435-7600.