Child's passport number hid fraud

ASB fraudster Stephen Versalko used a child's passport number to conceal the theft of $18 million from his employer, the Herald on Sunday has learned.

Versalko was sentenced to six years in prison last month after admitting stealing the cash from the bank during nine years working as an investment manager.

The ASB has consistently refused to discuss the case but a well-placed source said Versalko exploited a weakness in the bank's security which usually protects it from fraudsters.

The bank required people opening new accounts to provide proof of their identity, for example, a passport.

The source said Versalko set up a false account as part of his complicated fraud and needed a form of secure identification to meet the bank's security measures.

By typing in an invented passport number, Versalko tricked the bank's computer into believing a genuine passport had been viewed by a staff member.

In doing so, he bypassed security steps put in place to protect the bank's system.

"He plucked a passport number out of the air," the source said. "It just happened to be a juvenile."

"It could have been anyone's passport number," said the source. "It could have been someone who was dead. He was the only one who ever saw the account."

The ASB would not say how the passport number had been used. A spokeswoman said the bank was constrained from speaking for legal reasons.