PHOTO: Real estate agent. FILE
According to the NZHERALD a real estate agent tricked into wiring $100,000 as part of a sophisticated investment scam says police told her the recipient bank account holder was likely a “mule” targeted by the same overseas criminals to help shift the cash.
Carla O’Neil thought she had done proper due diligence and was convinced her life savings were secure, telling the Herald “there were no red flags”.
The professional 45-year-old was scoping investment opportunities this year to grow her money while she saved for a house. She found a website comparing bank term deposit rates and registered her details.
She was contacted by an “intelligent and well-spoken” man with an English accent claiming to be a Citibank portfolio manager. He sent her prospectus information about the US financial institution’s fixed-rate bonds and term deposit options.
He appeared to use a Citibank email address and provided an Auckland phone number. The pair talked repeatedly while O’Neil researched the 12-month fixed-term investment at 7.1 per cent interest, described as “low-risk”.
O’Neil, who says she’s tech-savvy, “stalked” the man online to confirm he was real and based at the company’s downtown Auckland office.
Satisfied the investment was legitimate, O’Neil handed over her passport, address and bank account details.
She then visited her local BNZ branch and instructed staff to transfer $100,000 on February 17 to an ASB bank account specified on a Citibank-branded payment invoice.
Next, she was emailed log-in details to an elaborate online “client portal” where she could see her money had been received into the term deposit account and track her investment as it accrued interest.
But none of it was real.
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The man with the English accent had been impersonating a genuine Citibank employee, and her money was gone in a scam that’s been on authorities’ radar here and in Australia since last year.
A month after wiring the cash, O’Neil received a bombshell phone call from BNZ.
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