It's all downhill for ski-pass scam

Queenstown police have seized $40,000 worth of fake NZSki passes.

Fake NZSki passes worth $40,000 have been seized by Queenstown police in a sting that led to a Malaysian holidaymaker being charged with seven forgery-related offences.

About 1,100 one-day passes and up to 200 10-ride multi-day passes were seized in the operation.

Senior Constable Wayne Park said NZSki became aware on Tuesday someone was attempting to sell NZSki passes via the Lakes Weekly Bulletin, despite passes being non-transferable, non-refundable and legitimate only when sold by NZSki.

NZSki transport manager Etienne Raubenheimer said yesterday he arranged to meet the seller in O'Connell's Shopping Centre in Queenstown by calling the mobile number in the advertisement.

The Englishman he met said he was selling the passes on behalf of a Malaysian man named "James".

Mr Raubenheimer, with plain clothes police officers, arranged to meet James in the same centre on Tuesday at 6pm.

The amount of money James allegedly sought in payment for all the passes is believed to be $23,000.

It is understood passes from last year and passes from this year were used as templates for the forgeries made in Malaysia or Singapore.

People were welcome to check the validity of their passes with NZSki and the company would take a zero tolerance attitude to those using fake passes.

"If you do knowingly attempt to use counterfeit ski passes, you will lose your season pass and be banned from all Southern ski areas," Mr Raubenheimer said.

The Englishman and the Malaysian, who was a season pass-holder, have been banned from Southern ski areas.

Mr Park and Mr Raubenheimer said it was the largest haul of fake ski passes either of them had encountered in their careers.

A 28-year-old man is expected to appear in Queenstown District Court next week.