Scammers instructed an 88-year-old pensioner to withdraw $10,000 in cash from ASB's Westfield Albany branch on the pretence she was helping police root out a crooked bank employee as part of a "covert" operation. Photo / Michael Craig
Scammers instructed an 88-year-old pensioner to withdraw $10,000 in cash from ASB's Westfield Albany branch on the pretence she was helping police root out a crooked bank employee as part of a "covert" operation. Photo / Michael Craig
An 88-year-old woman was scammed into withdrawing $10,000, believing she was aiding a covert police operation to help catch crooked bank staff.
UK national Jack Dylan Hennessy, 26, has pleaded guilty to 27 charges in connection with 15 victims and $337,700 in stolen money.
ASB refunded the elderly victim’s $10,000 after a lawyer working pro bono claimed the bank failed in its duty of care to a vulnerable customer.
An English scammer posing as a policeman asked a vulnerable pensioner to withdraw $10,000 in cash to help catch a crooked bank employee who was supposedly issuing counterfeit currency. The pensioner was told this was part of a “covert” police operation involving code words and “secret” surveillance of an Auckland mall.
The 88-year-old victim had been cold-called on her mobile phone from a private number. She was told plain clothes officers would be watching her every move when she withdrew the funds in person at the Westfield Albany ASB branch in late June.
Convinced by the ruse and wanting to help police, the woman - who lives alone and has no close family - drove to the bank and entered the branch on foot using her walker.
A lawyer and former neighbour who is now assisting the woman pro bono said the scammer gave her a story to tell bank staff if they quizzed her about the large withdrawal and listened in by phone “from her pocket” while she visited the bank.
When asked what the $10,000 was for, the woman replied that she needed the money urgently for a family funeral.
The cash was duly handed over by ASB tellers, despite the ageing customer of 50 years having no history of withdrawing such large sums of money, the lawyer told the Herald.
She returned home and waited for a man who pretended to be a police courier to pick up the cash. The man identified himself using a pre-arranged code word to convince her he was an official police contact.
She believed the money would then be whisked to investigators to check for fake bank notes before being redeposited into her account.
In fact, she had been duped in a scam playing out across Auckland and Wellington which is believed to have tricked more than 30 victims who lost north of $500,000 in cash and gold.
In Auckland, Jack Dylan Hennessy, 26, was caught in the act in June following a foot chase through central Auckland.
Hennessy is believed to have travelled to New Zealand in early June to re-target a victim he’d already fleeced last year.
It’s understood Hennessy may be part of a team of scammers working for an overseas criminal syndicate, and is likely receiving a commission before sending most of the proceeds of his offending offshore, the lawyer said.
“He’s just an employee and not the criminal mastermind.
“There’ll be others operating here in New Zealand.”
What made this scam unique was that victims had absolutely nothing to gain, the lawyer said.
“This relies purely to their altruism and community mindedness and wanting to do the right thing.”
He said the scammers appeared to have “refined data” enabling them to successfully target multiple victims in a short time frame, with an impressive “hit rate”.
In Hennessy’s case, he drained $337,700 from 15 separate victims in just 10 days.
“They’ve got their name and know addresses. They know [the victims] are worth having a go at because they’ve got some money and they know they’re vulnerable and the right kind of people who might respond to a scam when there’s nothing in it for them.”
Alarmingly, the 88-year-old victim was targeted in a follow-up scam just days after losing her money.
She received another call from someone claiming to be assisting ASB, saying, “We understand you were scammed - we want to make sure your account is secure”.
Being hoodwinked by criminals and losing $10,000 had a devastating effect on the woman, the lawyer said.
“She’s not sleeping at night, not eating, not trusting anyone and severely doubting her own judgment. It’s really f***ed her up.”
The lawyer had offered to assist the victim free of charge.
The victim wrote to ASB chief executive Vittoria Shortt alleging the bank had failed in its duty of care and was therefore responsible for the $10,000 loss.
He liaised with police and drafted a letter to ASB chief executive Vittoria Shortt last month, claiming the bank had failed in its duty of care to a vulnerable customer by issuing the large cash withdrawal and was therefore responsible for the loss.
“This was a huge blow to my financial security and independence and a massive blow to my confidence,” the letter says.
“I rely on ASB, as the experts, to keep me safe from such scams, and I feel very let down by ASB in this case. I believe that ASB had an opportunity to identify the scam and to take steps to intervene, but failed to do so.”
Within 24 hours of receiving the letter, ASB refunded the woman’s $10,000 in full.
ASB’s executive general manager of technology and operations, David Bullock, said the bank only learned the victim had been scammed when Shortt received the letter.
A fraud investigator contacted the customer the next day and arranged for the funds to be immediately returned.
“In this particular case, there was nothing for us to connect the transaction to any scam activity until it was notified to us by the customer herself or by police.
“We received very positive feedback on behalf of the customer about how this matter was managed by our team.”
The victim asked to remain anonymous but said she wanted to warn others about the scam and urge people to be vigilant.
Hennessy has pleaded guilty to 27 charges, including 25 of obtaining by deception. Most of his victims were aged over 80. He will be sentenced in November and faces up to seven years in prison.
Police said Hennessy’s actions “betrayed the goodwill of vulnerable and elderly members of our community”.
“Police will never contact you and ask you to withdraw money, nor will they contact you seeking banking details, card numbers, PIN or password.”
Meanwhile, another UK national was arrested this month for similar alleged offending involving banks and gold exchanges in Wellington.
Police have identified at least 17 victims who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A 26-year-old faces eight charges of obtaining by deception, three of attempting to obtain by deception and one of resisting arrest.
And a third man was arrested last week in Auckland in connection with similar alleged offending after police lured the alleged scammer to a West Auckland property for an expected cash pick up.
The 24-year-old was charged with attempting to obtain by deception.
Lane Nichols is Deputy Head of News and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
