Andrew Che lost his life savings after sending it to the wrong account. Barclays Bank has refunded his money after a prolonged battle for compensation. Video \ Jason Dorday
A West Auckland woman has been charged with theft after allegedly receiving $158,000 due to an account error.
A man linked to her has been charged with receiving $64,000, allegedly sent by the woman.
The pair allegedly spent the money on cars and cash transfers, including sending funds overseas.
A West Auckland woman who accidentally received a pensioner’s $158,000 after an account transfer error has been charged with theft and faces up to seven years in jail if convicted.
Police have also charged a man closely linked to the woman with receiving $64,000, which she allegedly sent him afterthe money mistakenly landed in her Westpac account.
The alleged victim, Andrew Che Sit Bong, says he is glad police have finally taken action and he plans to attend next week’s court appearance “to see what these guys look like”.
The pair have been summonsed to make their first appearance in the Auckland District Court.
It’s alleged the pair spent Che’s savings on cars and cash transfers, including thousands of dollars sent to a relative overseas.
The retired electrical engineer lost his life savings in January last year when he missed a single digit while transferring his money online from Barclays Bank in the UK to his Auckland Westpac account.
The 78-year-old told the Herald he was using an old computer with a “sticky keyboard” and one of the account numbers failed to register.
It meant he keyed in only 15 digits, not the intended 16. Westpac then added a zero to the suffix as per its normal protocols.
The new number sequence was for a valid account and the money was accidentally sent to the defendant.
Che has criticised Westpac for not checking that the receiving account name matched that on his payment instructions.
But Westpac has defended its actions, saying there is no name-checking system for international payments and blaming Che for the account transfer error.
Police initially refused to investigate, saying it was a civil case
After first being alerted to the case last year, police told Che they would not investigate because it was a civil matter.
He then contacted National’s Mt Roskill MP Carlos Cheung, who went in to bat for his constituent. Cheung contacted police and convinced them to re-examine Che’s file.
In a statement on Friday, police confirmed they had now charged two defendants.
“An investigator from the Auckland Financial Crime Unit has issued a court summons over this matter.”
Andrew Che Sit Bong, who lost $158,000 in an online banking error, was relieved to receive a full refund from Barclays Bank in the UK after a prolonged battle for compensation. Photo / Jason Dorday
A 38-year-old West Auckland woman had been charged with theft. It’s alleged she “dealt with” Che’s money “with intent to deprive” him permanently of the funds.
A 37-year-old West Auckland man had been charged with receiving $64,000, “having been reckless” as to whether the money was “obtained by an imprisonable offence”.
Andrew Che Sit Bong blamed Westpac for not checking that the recipient account name matched that on his payment instructions. Photo / Michael Craig
“Both individuals were co-operative with our inquiries,” police said.
‘Finders keepers’ rule doesn’t apply
Retired University of Auckland law professor Bill Hodge said the pair were facing “garden variety” charges under the Crimes Act.
Hodge said the “finders keepers” rule was not a valid principle in law.
“In law, when you find something, you do not have automatic good title to the property, whether it’s deposited [into your account] or you find it on the street.”
Che unexpectedly received a full refund this month from Barclays after a 15-month battle for compensation.
He told the Herald it was important for the police to lay charges to send a message that they did not condone criminal activity.
