Hamilton student at centre of 500k internet scam

A student has found herself at the centre of an internet money-laundering scam after $500,000 turned up in her bank account.

Twenty-year-old Hamilton journalist student Sarah-Lee Ryan has had her account frozen by ASB, who she said implied that she was the "middleman" in the attempted scam.

Ms Ryan told the Waikato Times she had no idea who made the deposit in her bank but believed she was being used by tricksters who hoped she would forward the cash after taking a percentage for herself.

She said she had received an email she thought was from a job search site giving details of potential jobs and asking her for her bank account.

She replied with her bank account details but the same day ASB froze her account and the next morning she was contacted by a bank investigator asking how the money got into her account. "She was very abrupt with me implying I was the` middleman' in the scam...if I had spent any of it I would have been part of the laundering, she told the paper.

Ms Ryan said she was now expecting an email from the scamsters asking her to transfer the money to another account. If it arrived she would inform police.

- NZPA