I have my doubts about the veracity of the story, but if it is true then that company needs to be shamed.
Better would be to use the legal system to recoup your costs. This way you don't accidentally recoup your costs from an innocent individual with zero oversight.
Or strand someone that fibbed about their experience, that then writes a suicide note (after throwing screenshots of the emails and cancellation up on their social media) claiming you stranding them in a city far from home with no money and no way home was the last straw and then commits suicide in front of your building
Or someone that comes back and sets the building on fire "with nothing left to lose".
Or waits for the person that interviewed them to walk out of the building and assaults them. Or follows them down the sidewalk and shoves them in front of a bus/trolley/train.
There's a bazillion reasons why this was a horrible idea for the company to do, if it is a true story.
"Why are you asking me about X? I don't know anything about it"
"You sure seemed to understand it on the phone screen"
"Phone screen? What phone screen? My recruiter gave me this plane ticket and told me to come interview on-site"