Irish tourists accused of scams leave Australia

Two of the women believed to be responsible for scamming businesses in Queensland. The blonde is still believed to be in Australia.

A group of Irish tourists who are accused of being part of a series of thefts and scams across Queensland have left the country.

Police told news.com.au a number of the group have left the country but could not confirm exactly how many. Yesterday police released the images of four people they are looking for in connection with the alleged wrongdoing who could still be in the country.

"Whilst the four people may still be in Queensland it is possible they have since travelled interstate to avoid police," a police statement said.

The revelation that some of the Irish group had left Australia comes as a travel agent told Brisbane's Hit 105 radio that she booked flights for several of them.

The Facebook post a travel agent left for Brisbane radio station Hit 105 revealing the Irish tourists had left.

The unnamed worker said she booked the flights and didn't recognise any of their faces but that all had valid passports and payment so she didn't question it.

A listener called Carrie, whose friend helped the group leave, told Hit 105 hosts Stav, Abby and Matt that they were gone.

She said she understood the group were travelling to the United Kingdom.

When asked how many had left she said she wasn't sure.

"I imagine they all did," she said. "It's a blessing in disguise."

Carrie, who is Irish, said the group gave her country a bad name and people like this had no respect for authority.

"They don't care, they know their rights inside and out," she said.

The revelation comes as a landlord claims she received threatening abuse from a group of Irish tourists.

Clara Carmichael, who leased four apartments to the group last year, said she received one message where she was called a "dirty Australian slapper".

Carmichael accused them of trashing the rooms and acting aggressively towards staff looking after the properties.

Speaking to Today, the Gold Coast landlord said she was disturbed over the abuse and one call in particular.

Police are trying to locate this member of the Irish group.

Police released this image of an Irish man they want to speak to.

One of the women police want to speak with.

In the message an irate caller left a voicemail saying he wouldn't be paying anything more to her.

"So you won't be able to get any more payouts on your big plastic lips or your plastic rubber face," the caller said

"You're a dirty, Australian smelly slapper. Bye now."

She said she met the group after leasing four new properties in Brisbane which she was overseeing the management of.

While she did conduct background checks she said the documents used were fake.

"We did our background checks," she said.

"They checked out, yeah. But since then we have realised all the documents were fake and all the details they gave us were fake as well."

Speaking of the first sign of trouble, she said she received some complaints that some women in the room were being abusive.

"We had complaints that some of the females were in abusive situations which we tried to investigate and check and talk to people about it because we weren't sure what to do," she said.

"We hadn't encountered that before. Then came non-payment and slow payment."

Carmichael said they had young children which made it difficult for her as she wasn't sure how to proceed. She said it left her feeling angry as she felt hardworking people were being taken advantage of.

Police were investigating nine Irish people over the scams, which targeted cafes, restaurants, shops and the elderly.

Detective Superintendent Tony Fleming said some of the people had left the country and his detectives were working to bringing it all together for those who are still here.

"It is pretty obvious to us, based on some of our findings so far, that this attention has put many of them to ground and — which is a good thing, because our key goal at the moment is to stop these people from committing any more offences," he said.

Supt Fleming said police were dealing with a mixed bag of complaints including group members who have allegedly eaten at restaurants only to put something in the food to avoid paying for it.

He also said the group had allegedly been quite abusive to hospitality staff.

Two women, who, as part of a group, are accused of distracting shop attendants while their children put stolen items in a pram in southeast Queensland.

"We have also had instances where Irish men have gone to people's houses, particularly elderly people's houses, and tried to sell them work on their houses, whether it is roofing or bitumening their driveways," he said.

"And they have either not done the work or they have done a substandard job. That's very concerning when people are taking advantage of the elderly."

It comes after police released new CCTV images of the group, accusing them of fleecing thousands of dollars from people.

Police confirmed they are working with the Australian Border Force regarding complaints surrounding the nine Irish people across Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

At least 12 complaints concerning the group were made to police who said the men appeared to be targeting elderly homeowners by taking payments for house repairs but never finishing the work.

Police said five males allegedly fleeced more than $25,000 from an elderly man over an unfulfilled promise to fix his roof.

It's also been alleged that a driveway repair in Oxenford was arranged with an Irish person but the services were not carried out.

— with AAP