Kaitāia woman Kimberley Dow sentenced for role in international website hosting scam

The scammers contacted people who were having website issues and Kaitāia woman Kimberley Dow's bank account was used for payment. Photo / 123rf

A woman’s financial hardship and digital skills led her to take up a promising job offer, but it quickly unravelled and left her with money laundering convictions.

Kimberley Dow, 36, appeared for sentencing in the Kaikohe District Court on Friday on charges related to her role in an international scam.

In March 2023, Dow began working for Webnetic Trendz Technologies after applying on the Singapore job site, Grabjobs.co.

She was instructed to open four bank accounts and when clients paid money she was to keep 10-12% and transfer the remainder to a bank account in Britain.

All of the accounts were opened in her name.

In April 2023, four victims received phone calls from unknown men posing as employees of legitimate New Zealand web hosting companies.

On one occasion, “Jack” promised he would fix a victim’s website but she had to pay a fee and was sent a fake invoice with Dow’s bank account.

Another time, “Bronson” called a victim and told her she was required to pay a $1500 website renewal fee.

Feeling under pressure, the victim transferred the money, again to Dow’s account, but the next day she called the real Bronson, who advised it had not been him she had spoken with.

“Jack” and another scammer, who went by the name of “Aaron”, called two other victims with similar scams and sent fake invoices for payment with Dow’s bank account.

The woman was found guilty by a jury earlier in the year in the Kaikohe District Court. Photo / NZME

For each of the deposits, which totalled $5717, Dow transferred funds to the offshore account.

Police were alerted to the scam and Dow told them during an interview she had reported the company to the Serious Fraud Office.

Her case went to trial in the Kaikohe District Court earlier this year.

She was found guilty of 10 charges related to money laundering and receiving property and acquitted on two.

At sentencing, Judge Gene Tomlinson said, at first, Dow did not know the operation was a scam.

“She was played like the victims were but she was reckless thereafter because she had a much better opportunity to realise and take action,” he said.

“She’s bright, but you can be bright and naive.”

Crown lawyer Danica Soich said Dow had a symbiotic relationship with the scammers and she had significant knowledge and training in cyber security.

“One could not exist without the other,” Soich said.

“She’s not a little old grandma down the street who’s got an email. She’s got special knowledge.”

Defence lawyer Sam McDonald said Dow’s life had taken a turn after the Christchurch earthquakes when she had to relocate to Kaitāia.

She was fluent in Japanese and had planned to study in Japan, but after moving to Kaitāia she struggled to find employment.

“There’s a big difference between dishonesty offending when you are poor and dishonesty offending when you are rich,” McDonald said.

“This is about economic disadvantage, this is not about greed and this is not about sophisticated white-collar crime.

“This is a sad set of circumstances for a young woman with potential.”

Judge Tomlinson said Dow was reckless because she ignored the red flags.

“You desperately did not want this to be dodgy and you wanted it to be okay so you kind of ignored the signs.

“And when you want something, you blinker yourself off to things that should be giant red flags.”

Judge Tomlinson acknowledged Dow was an unwilling victim of the scammers.

“They were persuasive people, but you were never going to get away with this, Ms Dow,” he said.

Dow was sentenced to six months’ community detention, supervision and ordered to pay reparation to the victims.

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.