Melbourne tradie Paul Koustoulidis put behind bars over fraud charges

A dodgy tradie has been sentenced to six months behind bars due to convictions of multiple counts of fraud following a news.com.au investigation.

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A dodgy tradie has been sentenced to six months behind bars due to convictions of multiple counts of fraud following a news.com.au investigation.

Last year, news.com.au reported that a Melbourne tradesman called Paul Koustoulidis had received a deposit to build a pergola but never actually carried out the work.

Mark Baghdassarian, 40, and his partner, forked out $12,200 to the builder but he disappeared and stopped returning their calls, without doing any work aside from digging five holes in their backyard and demolishing several of their plants.

In a bizarre twist, the tradie insisted he was “a good kid” and that he wasn’t “shonky” — just days before he ghosted them.

A number of other victims also came forward alleging that they too had paid for construction work that was never completed.

Now news.com.au can reveal that police arrested Mr Koustoulidis over 46 counts relating to fraud.

At the end of last month, on February 29, Mr Koustilidies pleaded guilty to 17 of those charges, which included three counts of using a false document to prejudice, 11 counts of obtaining property by deception, two counts of theft and one count of theft from shop.

He was sentenced to six months in prison, and will face a further year under a community corrections order once released.

Paul Koustoulidis was sentenced to six months behind bars for fraud offences after a news.com.au investigation.

Mr Baghdassarian said he was relieved to learn the tradie was behind bars.

“I am relieved that Paul Koustoulidis has been brought to justice and punished for his crimes towards myself and so many victims like me all around Melbourne,” he told news.com.au.

“It gives me a sense of satisfaction that my persistence with this matter has paid off.“

The dad added that he believed Mr Koustoulidis “would have been operating pervasively throughout society, even today” without media and police intervention.

In 2022, Mr Baghdassarian found a man called Johnathan L on Airtasker who agreed to come over to their Cranbourne East home and give them a quote for the cost of building a pergola.

They wanted it built in time to enjoy it for the summer.

In early November, ‘Johnathan’ attended the site. He wore a uniform that had ‘Paul’ on the front of his shirt. Later on, the tradie gave them his bank account details where his name was listed as Paul Koustoulidis.

“I started calling him Paul and he responded favourably,” Mr Baghdassarian explained.

It later emerged that the man’s real name was Paul Koustoulidis.

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Paul Koustoulidis appeared as ‘Jonathan L’ on Airtasker.

Mr Koustoulidis gave them a quote of $18,720, with building works expected to be finished in seven to 10 business days, which the couple accepted.

On November 5, the day building was supposed to commence, Paul asked for them to pay for the entire job upfront.

“I thought ‘hang on a second, the entire amount for the whole job? I wouldn’t know if I’d see you again,’” Mr Baghdassarian said.

They negotiated and in the end the Melbourne dad and builder agreed to a $5000 deposit.

Shortly afterwards, the tradie dug five holes and demolished several plants that were in the way in the backyard.

And that was it. To date, no more work was done on the site.

Soon after they paid the initial deposit, Paul asked for $72000 more from the couple — and they complied, worried that the project couldn’t get underway without it.

But things went downhill from there.

The Melbourne tradie pressured one customer into handing over more than half the total cost of the build before he’d started work.

In text message exchanges shared with news.com.au, Paul repeatedly asked for the $7200 payment, encouraging his client to ring his bank to speed up the transaction and use the instant payment system Osko.

“Pay it to me so we can finalize (sic) this sh*t please,” he wrote.

Mr Baghdassarian claims Paul also increased the overall price of the project from its original $18,000 to $24,000.

In the texts, Paul said he was “a good kid” when Mr Baghdassarian questioned him. He also claimed he had a sick child which was why he needed the money fast.

“I’ve promised people I would start there (sic) jobs asap and promised days if it gets pushed back one more day,” Paul texted in one exchange.

“I’m f***ed, I don’t do shonky sh*t with people my word is everything in this game”.

In a later exchange, Paul added: “I don’t like the way u spoke to me after I was honest with u on top of that mark I charged u half cause (sic) I’m a good kid”.

The tradie insisted he wasn’t desperate for money, saying “if this is all about money I’ll send it back cause (sic) I don’t need it.”

He also texted: “This is the new quote if ur happy I’ll come start if not I’ll take material back get refund and we go separate ways im not putting up with this sh*t”.

Mr Baghdassarian eventually said he wanted to cancel the project and Paul agreed to pay him $500 a week until the debt was paid back.

And yet, “I haven’t received a cent,” the distraught father said.

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Originally published as Melbourne tradie Paul Koustoulidis put behind bars over fraud charges