Private investigator Nick Mayer has built a dossier of information about a "money mule" who received $100,000 in stolen money from his client.
Private investigator Nick Mayer has built a dossier of information about a "money mule" who received $100,000 in stolen money from his client.
A retired North Shore insurance professional who lost $100,000 in an elaborate investment scam involving a fake term deposit hired a private investigator to track the woman who received his stolen cash and build a dossier of evidence to help bring down the criminals.
The private eye compiled a detailed report identifying the Auckland “money mule”, including her name, several listed addresses, company directorships and a history of creditors and previous debts.
But five months after reporting the fraud, the victim says he’s frustrated that police are yet to make an arrest given the large body of evidence against the woman linking her to the scam.
“I’m highly p***ed off quite frankly. She could be doing this again.”
Police, however, insist the matter remains under active investigation and they are hopeful of holding someone to account.
Detectives told the man there were aware of nine separate victims. The stolen money had been wired to Australia and Vietnam, but it’s believed the criminal masterminds are based in the UK.
Though the Kiwi mule had been identified, she had no major assets, having spent the proceeds of her offending on “shopping, gambling and material living”.
The victim told the Herald he has written off the money and is determined to see the woman brought to justice.
And he hadn’t ruled out taking civil proceedings against Westpac Bank, which refused liability for his loss, telling him “the banks [sic] fraud detection systems worked as designed”.
The 76-year-old has been a loyal Westpac customer for 30 years and spent his career brokering corporate insurance deals here and overseas.
Last September he noticed an online ad purportedly for Suncorp investments. He called a listed number and spoke to a man calling himself Jack Westhorpe, who claimed to be a Suncorp account manager.
The victim would later learn the man was a scammer and the Suncorp investment opportunity was an elaborate ruse.
Westhorpe sent the victim prospectus brochures about the company’s “wealth solutions”. The pensioner settled on a 12-month term deposit with an interest rate of 4.9 per cent.
The funds were to be held in an ANZ “client escrow” holding account for a seven-day “cooling off period”.
Satisfied it was a legitimate investment, the victim transferred $100,000 to the ANZ holding account on October 3.
Nearly six months later, he received a call from Westpac’s fraud team saying they believed he and another customer had been caught up in an investment scam.
An investigation was launched but efforts to recover the stolen money were unsuccessful.
The victim complained to Westpac, claiming the bank’s fraud detection measures had failed to flag his transaction as suspicious and the bank should therefore be partially liable for his loss.
He argued he had repaid more than $1.5m to Westpac over the years in mortgage and personal loan repayments, that he was vulnerable and the bank should reimburse him in good faith.
However, a letter last month from Westpac said there was no evidence of the bank’s online security systems being breached or any payment system fraud or failure that would qualify for reimbursement.
“Given that the transaction was authorised, the customer is liable for the losses resulting from such transactions.”
And despite scammers successfully stealing $100,000, a Westpac staffer told him: “The banks [sic] fraud detection systems worked as designed.”
The victim said in his opinion, banks were “harbouring gangsters and thieves by allowing these transactions to be carried out”.
He also went to the Serious Fraud Office but it declined to investigate, saying, “the information provided does not support an allegation of serious or complex fraud offending”.
Frustrated at the official responses, the victim turned to NZ Private Investigators director Nick Mayer.
Mayer obtained details of the recipient account holder, revealing she was an Auckland woman in her 30s.
A credit check showed she had multiple credit defaults, and an adverse court judgment involving a debt recovery agency.
NZ Private Investigators director Nick Mayer.
A Companies Office search lists her as the director and shareholder of two companies, one of which is the name of the ANZ holding account provided by the scammers.
Mayer told the Herald he believed the woman was party to the scam.
“We’re talking money laundering here. It’s obtaining by deception. She helped transfer the money.”
Mayer said police should be commencing a prosecution against the woman and identifying the criminal masterminds.
“Now that we have a named suspect they should be looking at interviewing her. In a lot of these cases you’re chasing shadows, but here there’s a genuine lead.”
Westpac’s head of fraud and financial crime Peter Barnes said the company empathised with the victim.
Criminals appeared to have gained his trust in a sophisticated scam. The $100,000 payment was “authorised and made by” the victim.
“Westpac alerted [the victim] some months after the payment when we became aware the destination ANZ account was potentially involved in fraud.
“We engaged with ANZ immediately in an attempt to recover funds but regrettably there were no funds available for recovery.”
The case had been reported to police, CERT NZ, and the SFO.
Westpac said anyone considering an investment should conduct due diligence using independent sources.
It refused to answer specific questions about why its fraud detection systems did not flag the victim’s payment as suspicious, and how many other Westpac customers had fallen victim to the scam.
Police said they were in contact with the victim but could not comment further as the case remained under investigation.
