1000 hit by online scam
MORE than 1000 angry holidaymakers have come forward to claim they were ripped-off by an online auction site travel rort.
A Victorian magistrate will be sifting through what police describe as "boxes and boxes" of documents after a Melbourne businessman left holidaymakers thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Police continue to be inundated with fraud complaints from people across Australia who fell victim to online holidays sold through eBay where trader Robert Kobis from Beach Australia and Cyber Blue Media took money from families across the country and New Zealand.
Caulfield Crime Investigation Unit Sen-Det Jock Stewart said yesterday police were "putting their heads together" to solve the scam.
"We’re asking people to please be patient," Sen-Det Stewart said.
"We’ve got in excess of 1000 victims in Australia alone and this is going to be a long process.
"The last step will be to arrest Mr Kobis."
Sen-Det Stewart said the businessman’s computer equipment and boxes of documents were seized by police this week and was now before a magistrate to view them.
"Given the amount of victims it’s going to take a while," he said.
"There will be an arrest made once we’ve spoken to all victims." Spokeswoman for eBay Inessa Jackson said while she could not confirm the number of online buyers to yet be compensated, direct contact was made yesterday to those affected to access the one-off fund.
But she said there had been a "significant proportion of buyers" who had no problems using their vouchers from Mr Kobis.
"They have happily been on their holiday and report no issues," she said.
Ms Jackson said eBay was working with police to track down additional buyers who lost their money.
Meanwhile, there has been overwhelming response on cairns.com.au to The Cairns Post’s story about the conman and devastated holidaymakers when the story was broken on March 5.
Cairns mother-of-two Tracey Johnson said she and her family were grateful for the news story which first brought the scam to light
The family made national headlines when stranded at Airlie Beach and forced to cancel their dream, a holiday to the Gold Coast.
"We now hope that justice will be served and that scams such as this are not repeated," Ms Johnson said.
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Wanted man: Alleged online holiday scam merchant Robert Kobis. Picture: Supplied
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