Queensland line dancers who forked out thousands for a "trip of a lifetime" in Australia have been ripped off, allegedly by a man involved in their community for 15 years.
Queensland Line Dancers
Queensland line dancers who forked out thousands for a "trip of a lifetime" in Australia have been ripped off, allegedly by a man involved in their community for 15 years.
Trips arranged through Brett Jenkins Line Dancing have been cancelled with no refund forthcoming, police believe.
Mr Jenkins, 37, is now believed to be on the run after about 100 people, mainly from southeast Queensland, complained of being out of pocket for a combined "several hundreds of thousands of dollars".
A line dance teacher since his teens, Mr Jenkins had previously taken people on trips, senior sergeant Ken Rogers said on Monday.
But in the last 12 months, people who paid from $312 to $10,428 for trips and cruises to compete in or attend social line dancing events around the world would discover nothing was booked.
Scammed
"There would be upcoming events and they're looking for plans, itineraries, schedules," Sen Sgt Rogs told reporters.
"They simply didn't arrive ... The bookings were never made.
"When they started making enquiries, all of a sudden phone messages and calls weren't being returned."
Mr Jenkins' father, Bruce Jenkins, 66, is also allegedly involved and being sought by police.
Police say the number of alleged victims is growing daily.
They are trying to establish why after years of being "heavily" involved in line dancing, the pair might decide to rip people off.
"It's over the period they've been able to establish that trust and rapport," Sen Sgt Rogers said.
"It's only been the last 6-12 months that we've been able to establish the fraudulent activity.
"For some of these people, it's their life savings.
"They've saved up for a trip of a lifetime. It's now never going to happen.
"Most of these people are elderly and, quite frankly, some of the money they've lost, these people simply don't have."
The suspects were recently seen leaving a house on Brisbane's northside.
Police acknowledge they could be interstate but did not believe they had left Australia.
Sen Sgt Rogers said the "face-to-face" scam worked differently to online frauds common in recent times.
"There's anger. There's disappointment. A lot of people have put a lot of faith in these guys and in the company itself," he said.
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