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Auckland police have made a series of “significant” arrests in an attempt to shut down a sophisticated financial scam stealing millions in a term-deposit-style scam.
One of those arrested, an Auckland man, allegedly stole just under $2 million from two victims.
Warnings have been made to the public by police of the sophisticated scam, which involves victims searching term deposits online.
The victim will choose a fake bank, provide their contact details on its website run by a scammer and are then asked to open a new term deposit, Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Bolton said.
After the victim transfers money into a New Zealand-based account held by a “money mule”, the mule will send the funds offshore.
Money mules are people who transfer illegally obtained money on behalf of somebody else, they’ll launder proceeds from scams by allowing their personal bank account to receive money and then hand the cash to an overseas party.
Warnings have been made to the public by police of the sophisticated scam, which involves victims searching term deposits online. Photo / 123rf
The Auckland City Financial Crime Unit have been carrying out investigations into reports of the scam, which has duped millions of dollars out of Kiwis that fell for the trap.
Recently, police executed a search warrant at a money mule’s address in West Auckland.
Electronic evidence was seized by officers as part of the investigation and late last week, a 60-year-old Auckland man was arrested.
The man will face two counts of money laundering and will appear in district court on June 8.
Police will allege the man was directly involved in two examples of the scam where one victim lost $950,000 and another lost nearly $1m.
Bolton said while the losses were significant, police had managed to recover more than $600,000 for one victim.
In another incident, a victim lost $100,000 after transferring it to a New Zealand-based account. A 54-year-old man was arrested and is before the court charged with money laundering and will reappear on June 15.
Recently, police executed a search warrant at a money mule’s address in West Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell
Last month, another 54-year-old man was arrested in connection to an ongoing laundering investigation which was reported to police in February.
The man is before the district court on multiple counts of money laundering, he’ll be reappearing for a case review hearing on August 1.
Bolton said these results were “fantastic” for all victims involved, but reminded the community that there were still those looking to exploit vulnerable members of society.
“If you are receiving money into your account from people you have not met and don’t know and keeping some of the money for yourself before sending the bulk of the money overseas - you are a money mule and you could be arrested and prosecuted for money laundering,” he said.
“If you think you are laundering money, I recommend that you advise your bank immediately and seriously consider self-reporting to the police, rather than the police knocking on your door with a search warrant or to arrest you.”
Police advice for people looking into term deposits is to exercise caution, making sure to do a search for broker companies online before engaging with them.
The Financial Market Authority (FMA) frequently publishes the names of suspicious companies on their website. Banks and other finance professions are also worth consulting, police said.
“As always, sadly there is never a shortage of scams that the public should be aware of,” said Bolton.
He advised the public to watch for anything that doesn’t appear right, with email and social media scams particularly prevalent.
Bolton urged anybody who sees something they think might be attractive or a great deal to do their research, speak to friends or family and check with the FMA.
