Banks chase man accused of $1.8m rip-off

Nicole Jones was convicted for her part in the scams. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A high-profile criminal has been linked to a string of bank scams in which around $1.8 million has disappeared.

The 38-year-old man's identity is protected by court orders but he is accused of master-minding mortgage frauds described as New Zealand's most complicated, costly and cunning.

The Herald on Sunday has discovered the full extent of the frauds, which the newspaper first revealed on its front page three years ago.

That report told of a mystery woman who got mortgages on houses she did not own. She tricked lawyers into handling mortgage applications with false documents that appeared to prove she was the legal owner.

Now that woman can be identified as Nicole Margaret Jones, a mother-of-five from Glenfield, who has been convicted for her part in the scams. She said yesterday: "I've done my time. I don't want to talk about it."

Police believed Jones was one of several "mules", whose task was to meet the lawyers. But the forgery and fraud-related charges the 38-year-old man faces reflect the police belief that he conceived and planned the fraud, which affected five different banks and took in about $900,000.

The man already has 84 fraud and 55 burglary and receiving convictions. He is yet to enter a plea on the forgery and fraud-related charges and next appears in court in October. A trial is at least a year away.

An Auckland lawyer affected by the scam yesterday said police officers used the term "mule" to describe the woman, saying she was one of several working for the person who organised the scam.

"He must have trained her very carefully and had the documentation very well done. They were so sophisticated and so well prepared. There was nothing unusual about her demeanour... nothing to alert my suspicion."

When shown the Herald on Sunday front page from 2006 the lawyer recognised the woman. "That's her. I'm 99 per cent certain of it."

She had approached him posing as a Remuera woman who had a freehold home. Producing a passport in the name of that woman, she said she wanted a $180,000 mortgage from Westpac for home renovations and a holiday. She also had an insurance certificate from Tower Insurance for the home, filling the bank's requirements for lending.

The woman had earlier used the passport to open a bank account in her victim's name and asked that the money be transferred to the account. The lawyer said that bank transferred the cash to that account. It is understood the cash was then whisked out of that account and taken offshore.

The lawyer said: "At the time I felt terrible about it and part of that was the fact I was taken in."

The Herald on Sunday supplied one of the names on the passport used in the scams to to the Department of Internal Affairs to find out if the passports were genuine.

A spokesman said the department had carried out an investigation and the passports were forgeries.

The man has convictions for two previous scams - in 2000 and 2003 three banks were tricked into paying out $380,000 in mortgages. He is also facing other charges, including one which resulted in a company losing $500,000 after he gained access to its internal banking systems.

In the 2000 scam two mortgages - $110,000 from Westpac and $90,000 from ASB - were taken out in the names of others. Evidence was given at the court case the next year that the man had met the lawyers after assuming the identities of genuine homeowners.

In 2008, he was convicted on a single charge of forgery from another similar mortgage scam that took place five years earlier. In court, he claimed "there are no victims" in mortgage scams.

None of the money from any of the scams has been recovered. While most of it is believed to have been sent overseas, some was withdrawn in cash.

The man's family has a connection with orchards. There has been speculation that some money has been buried on their property.

Those who know the accused man say he is charming and intelligent, able to carefully plan elaborate criminal enterprises. However, they also say he leaves a trail of evidence and loves talking about how clever his crimes are.

The man has connections throughout Auckland's underworld but has no allegiance to any gang or organisation. One person described him as a "highly intelligent maverick". And an underworld source said: "He's really good... but his problem is he has to let everyone know how good he is."

The banks have tried to recover the money in several civil court claims.

In relation to the 2005 scam, Westpac spokesman Craig Dowling said: "Westpac, along with all the other banks defrauded in this scam, would be very interested in finding out more about the offender."

* Crime timeline

2000: The man is accused of assuming the identities of two homeowners to get mortgages worth $200,000.

2003: The man later pleads guilty to forgery after using a fake mortgage application to get $180,000 from HSBC.

2005: Five mortgages worth about $900,000 are obtained through fraud, for which the man is later charged. Nicole Margaret Jones is convicted on associated charges.

Lenders include: ASB, Westpac, HSBC, Kiwibank, PSIS and Southern Cross Building Society.

He also faces charges relating to another $500,000 fraud.