Holidays Union International Pty Ltd

Hello...
I was wondering if anyone has heard of a company called "Holidays Union International Pty Ltd"? And If anyone has been offered a job with them or taken them up on a job offer? Thank You.

[AlanJones]

A search on Google brings up no hits apart from this post, so they can't be a very big company if they don't have their own website.

If you post up more details, such as a copy of the email you received then we will be able to help you more.

I was offered a position by email on 04/04/12 for a Customer Service Specialist. The idea was to work from home for an initial 6 week period and I was to be paid fortnightly $3125. The main contact was by Skype for the first 2 weeks and then on payday (30/4/2012) all contact was severed by the company. I have not been paid anything for the work I did.

My job was to research and compile places in NSW that domestic and international travellers would be interested in coming to. I am aware of two other "Customer Service Specialist" - we were all employed on the same day 16 April 2012 -xxx. I have tried to contact them via LinkedIn but no success yet. During the 2 weeks I was asked to make money transfers through Western Union from money which had been directly deposited into my account. All together I transferred $2500 to a person in the Ukraine. The first deposit on 26 April into my account came from DEPOSIT MADHAN DASIREDDI SCHOOL TAX. The second was from Holidays Union Account. I have been advised by SCAM WATCH to contact the police as this is a case of money laundering and an employment scam.

I conducted an ASIC search on the company and found the director was in fact John Liu (b.31/12/71) of 18 Frew Close, Nicholls ACT and after checking with the building supervisor found that the company had never operated out of the address on their website http://www.holidaysunion.com at 30/28 University Avenue, Canberra.

I have lodged a complaint with the Fair Work Ombudsman to attempt to claim my pay and contacted SCAMwatch who advised me to contact the local police to make a formal statement about this incident, as in effect it was money laundering.

This is the initial email I received from them

Hello xxx,

My name is Benjamin Schaw, HR manager of Holidays Union International Pty Ltd. Viktoria, I have found your resume in the national database for Australian employers and I think I can interest you with our customer service career opportunity. This is an immediate opportunity. Ongoing training. Well paid including full benefits package. It is flexible. Both P/T and F/T schedules are available. Viktoria, I know that you are not located in Canberra (our company is based in Canberra, ACT), but that's not an issue, because we are looking for Customer Service specialist in your home area. I am not sure if you are still looking for a new career, so please do let me know ASAP. xxx, I am happy to send you all the details about our vacancy. Thank you for your time.

Kindest regards,
Benjamin Schaw, HR Manager
Holidays Union International Pty Ltd
30/28 University Ave
Canberra ACT 2601
(02) 6176 0808
[email protected]
http://www.holidaysunion.com

Hello vcsoma,

Thank you for posting the information can you also post the headers from the email? If your not sure how to find headers you can go to this site http://www.ip-adress.com/faq/view_email_header/

Sounds like you got some good advice I'm sorry to hear you got scammed.

I've added the fake website to our database to have it shut down. Judging from the content of the fake site which incidentally was just copied from a legitimate site the scammer may be gearing up to use the site for a rental scam as well.

Justin

Thank you for all the posts. I got the same 1st email as you did Viktoria. I started on the 17th of April, wasted 2 weeks and now I haven't heard from anyone and I can't get in contact with anyone, I didn't get paid either. But all of the money they were going to transfer into my account never made it into my account! If I can help u with the police or anything (even if it doesn't get me the pay they promised)... My friends think i should take it further too as i have a job offer letter that is a legal document! But I really don't know what to do, i have never been in this position before.
Also Im in Brisbane and they told me it was a new position that know one else was doing this job!! Full of Crap!!!



Hello Domini,

My name is Benjamin Schaw, HR manager of Holidays Union International Pty Ltd. Domini, I have found your resume in the national database for Australian employers and I think I can interest you with our customer service career opportunity. This is an immediate opportunity. Ongoing training. Well paid including full benefits package. It is flexible. Both P/T and F/T schedules are available. Domini, I know that you are not located in Canberra (our company is based in Canberra, ACT), but that's not an issue, because we are looking for Customer Service specialist in your home area. I am not sure if you are still looking for a new career, so please do let me know ASAP. Domini, I am happy to send you all the details about our vacancy. Thank you for your time.

Kindest regards,
Benjamin Schaw, HR Manager
Holidays Union International Pty Ltd
30/28 University Ave
Canberra ACT 2601
(02) 6176 0808
[email protected]
http://www.holidaysunion.com

[AlanJones]

Hi Domini and welcome to ScamWarners.

Unfortunately the contract that you have isn't worth the paper that it is written on.

You haven't been dealing with the real company, but with a scammer who has stolen the company's name and set up a fake website. The scammers are likely to be based overseas.

Thanks, I now know its all been a waste of time!!

Should I change any of my bank details or anything? Am I at risk of them hacking into my computer or anything?

Sorry just never been in this position before and I don't know if I should be doing anything about it?

Thanks for your help!

[AlanJones]

There should be no need for you to change your bank details, as the scammers have no way of withdrawing money from it. You also have no need to worry about them hacking your computer - these are low-life criminals you've been dealing with, not IT masterminds.

Thank you so much!!!

Hi Domini,

I gave the police everything I had, the bank detected fraud on my account and froze my account so I had to go and start a new account. Be careful with what you gave - if the digital photo they asked for was from a licence or passport report the fraud to the Roads & Transport or Dept of Foreign Affairs (Passports) and get issued a new on with a new number because the police told me they can easily replicate them. I went onto social website Linked In and found 2 others scammed by the company - Upra Singh in Brisbane and Shannon Cooper in Perth but haven't been able to Link In with them yet. Report it to your police. NSW police are investigating and will be referring my incident to the Federal Police to pursue. It is worth changing your bank account even if money didn't go in to it - people who have been scammed at an earlier stage will claim the money went to you, so change it quick!. It's also worth making a complaint with the Fair Work Ombudsman (forms are online) about lost pay - that way the more of these they get the greater the chance that ASIC will shut down the business and fine the hell out of them.I'm currently doing an e-verify check to see if I can get the owners of the site so stay tuned for more info.

BTW who was your "supervisor"?

I did a reverse email lookup onmy supervisor and got the following header info

Sunnyvale, CA 74.6.140.31 Inktomi Corporation [email protected]

SUNNYVALE, CA 68.142.202.129 INKTOMI CORPORATION [email protected]

Hope this helps

Vicki

Yahoo's servers are in Sunnyvale, CA. Inktomi is owned by yahoo. Unfortunately, all that IP tells you is that the email passed through yahoo's servers.

Hi Vicki...

Thanks for all your posts, i'm sorry that they have put you through all of this also. I really hope they get whats coming for them as well. I can't believe these people do this, its horrible.

I will report it to fair work tomorrow, and I will deffently look into everything else you have said to do. I really appreciate all your help as well, its not been a fun thing to go through. If there is anything at all I can do to help you as well with the police or anything please let me know, i would be glad to help so these poor excuse for people get what they deserve. Thank you again.

Domini