Police investigating $100k currency exchange fraud claim with Chinese connection

The woman claimed she brought $100,000 in cash and the customer agreed to transfer the equivalent Yuan and wait at the store until the transfer showed up in their account. Photo / 123RF

By Liu Chen of RNZ

Police are investigating an apparent fraud in which an Auckland dairy owner claims she lost tens of thousands of dollars in a currency exchange.

The woman - who wished to remain anonymous - runs a dairy in central Auckland with her husband.

She said they were planning to send some money back to China to the husband's sick mother - who has since died - and agreed to a currency exchange with a regular customer - who had coincidentally asked the couple to exchange Chinese Yuan into dollars.

In the Chinese community, it is common for people to change money privately among friends, family and acquaintances.

The woman claimed she brought $100,000 in cash and the customer agreed to transfer the equivalent Yuan and wait at the store until the transfer showed up in their account.

But the man left the store while she was cooking and her husband was busy in the store, she said.

"My husband send me a WeChat message asking whether the money has turned up. I said it hasn't. He said 'while I was busy working, he has already left'."

She said she trusted the customer, who had been visiting her dairy for four or five years.

She also said she messaged the customer on WeChat, he asked her to wait, and eventually she received ￥14,000.

"Then I can't get in touch with him anymore. At first when I tried to call him, there was no pickup, but on the second day, his phone was turned off - I can't reach him at all," she said.

"I even sent him a photo of my mother-in-law. I said 'look, this is what my mother-in-law looks like, can you please return the money to me. The money was meant to be used for her medical treatment and to save her life but you took it away. I was trying to persuade him, but he never replied."

Police said they were investigating an allegation of fraud and two other separate cases - one is a civil matter and the third involved a report of a scam in May.

In relation to the scam investigation, police have charged a 31-year-old man with obtaining by deception.

He is due to appear in the Auckland District Court later this month.