Police bust $1m holiday scam

Tony Wilson

08Mar08

GOLD Coasters are among about 4000 people who have paid for Queensland holidays that did not exist in a year-long scam that has netted a Melbourne man about $1 million.

Unsuspecting would-be holidaymakers went on the eBay auction website and connected with seller beachesaustralia -- operated by a Robert Kobis who listed his business as Cyber Blue Booking Agency -- and paid between $125 and $350 for three, five and seven-night holidays in Queensland resorts including ones on the Gold Coast.

One man from Coolangatta, Christopher McMahon, 55, and a friend lost almost $800 when they booked several holidays on the Gold and Sunshine coasts.

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Mr McMahon said he realised something was wrong when he logged on to eBay on February 29 -- about one month after he had made his bookings; beachesaustralia had been flooded with negative feedback.

He said hundreds of people had began complaining of their dishonoured holidays.

"That's when I knew I was gone," he said.

Mr McMahon quickly began ringing each of the resorts he had booked and each told him the same thing -- his booking had not been paid for.

"I'm so angry," said Mr McMahon. "It's disgraceful. It's not even about the money any more. This is affecting a lot of people."

Mr McMahon said he had received no help from eBay and has vowed never to purchase another item from the site again.

A Melbourne detective told the Weekend Bulletin that the victims paid money into a bank account and were issued with a holiday certificate.

"These victims paid their own air fares and often had pre-paid car hire. They went to the resorts or else rang to confirm their bookings only to be told there were no pre-paid bookings," said the detective.

"If they had already arrived at their holiday destination, they would have had to pay twice for their accommodation.

 "I would say 4000 people scammed in the past 12 months is not unreasonable and we know that beaches-australia had 3000 sales over the past four months worth $400,000. Then there are those who would be very embarrassed to have been scammed and they just stayed silent and suffered the loss. There could be hundreds of them as well.

"We would like to hear from these people; they are victims of a crime and they can help prevent it from happening to others. We are asking them to make their report online to www.police.qld.gov.au/onlineauctionfraud."

Victoria Police believed the average amount paid by the victims was $200 to $300.

Yesterday afternoon, Caulfield detectives raided a unit in Hawthorn Road, Caulfield, an inner Melbourne suburb and seized computers, equipment and paperwork.

Fifty-six-year-old Mr Kobis, from Caulfield, who is known to Victorian police, was helping them with their inquiries last night.

The Weekend Bulletin tried to contact Mr Kobis yesterday regarding his eBay dealings but he was unreachable.

An eBay spokeswoman said he had been suspended from trading on the site.