New Zealand couple flees after $7.8m bank blunder

[tim31]

From news.com.au

NEW Zealand police are searching for a couple who have allegedly fled with millions of dollars that was accidently deposited into their account.

The couple is understood to have received a $NZ10 million ($7.8 million) deposit after asking Westpac Bank for a $NZ10,000 overdraft, NZPA is reporting.

The couple ran a service station in Rotorua, according to NZPA.

"The individuals associated with this account are believed to have left New Zealand and police (are) working through Interpol to locate those individuals," said Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey of New Zealand Police.

"Westpac Bank has recovered some of the money which had been inappropriately withdrawn."

He did not specific how much had been recovered and refused to confirm any other details about the case.

"At this time I am not prepared to disclose the amount of money involved, name the individuals or business involved, or discuss which country the individuals may be in right now."

That's six million dollars in greenbacks, for those of you without a calculator handy. Banks just can't seem to get anything right!

[General Zod]

How come my banks can't ever make errors like that? If I had to guess, they probably saw that the bank deposited the wrong amount, went gaga and thought "$10mil? Sweet! Vacation time!".

[tim31]

I've heard it described on morning news over here as a 'struggling service station'. If this is true, they started salivating when they saw the extra figures and acted in haste. My guess is that they will either make it to South America and we'll never hear from them again, or they will be picked up in Australia within the next 48 hours, depending how well they considered their plans in the short time they had to do so.

[Stark]

Oh man good old Westpac, as if they didn't have enough problems.

[tim31]

I still bank with CBA despite their arseholery

[Stark]

That's like using Telsta man... that's low. At least you know where your fees go; bonuses for celebrity CEOs!

[JointStrikeFighter]

I still bank with CBA despite their arseholery

I am also with CBA.

THEY GOT ME YOUNG MAN! FUCKING DOLOMITES!

[tim31]

Ditto.

And re: Telstra, their day of reckoning will come. Oh yes.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Hey I work for Telstra now!

[Surlethe]

Enough spam.

[mr friendly guy]

seems like the man was a Korean national and has fled to Hong Kong

Missing decimal point, now a family's missing with millions

* Matthew Benns, Peter Hawkins and Lois Watson
* May 24, 2009



A NEW ZEALAND couple who went on the run after a bank accidentally deposited $NZ10million ($7million) into their account have taken a large family entourage with them and are believed to be in Hong Kong.

Neighbours named the couple as Korean national Leo Gao and his girlfriend, Kara Young, who ran a BP service station in Rotorua that had just been put into receivership.

They are believed to have had two weeks' head start before the Westpac banking error was realised.

Mr Gao fled with $3.8 million with Ms Young, her daughter, Lena, 7, younger sister Arawa and Mr Gao's extended family, who lived with them in Rotorua.

New Zealand police have refused to confirm the names of the missing people but sent an officer to China and brought Interpol into the hunt.

Ms Young's mother has blamed her daughter's boyfriend for taking the money. "I'd like to wring his blimmin' neck," Sue Hurring told New Zealand's TV3.

"We've just come from the police station trying to sort out this stupid, stupid, bizarre situation," she said.

"I just wasn't sure what to do about it. I think the more information that I can help with the police to get them home, is more important."

Ms Hurring said her daughter had tried to contact her. "She did ring me and I hung up on her because I knew what she'd done," Ms Hurring told TV3.

But not everyone is urging the couple to return the money, with at least two Facebook group set up offering support. The groups, "Go Leo Gao - Go You Good Thing!" and "We Support Leo Gao and his 10Million Dollars - Run Leo Run", have about 75 members between them, but offer no clues to the group's whereabouts.

Meanwhile, the bank teller who put the decimal point in the wrong place on Mr Gao's temporary $100,000 overdraft is reported to be extremely distressed. The bank has issued written warnings to the bank clerk and her supervisor, understood to work in Christchurch.

When Mr Gao realised the mistake, he transferred $6.7million, of which $2.9million has been recovered. Westpac hired a private investigator to pursue the missing $3.8million before informing police.

The bank is using charging orders and property law notices to salvage what it can from Mr Gao's assets.

A Westpac spokesman said yesterday the bank was doing all it could to recover the funds, including receivership action in relation to Mr Gao's petrol station.

As well, the bank has instigated legal action to issue charging orders and property law notices over personal assets.

"The process is that if Property Law Act notices are unremedied then the bank can proceed to the sale of those assets," the spokesman said.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

The ironic thing is that being able to comprehend following the old adage of "take the money and run" actually happened here... Most opportunistic criminals would be stupid enough to think they'd never get caught and just spend it all on gold-plated SUVs in their hometown.

[tim31]

Huh. So I was wrong about their potential destinations...

All those people who joined the facebook groups; could the bank(s) hold that against them later, when they are attempting to get a loan? Serious question.

And as for the mother of the woman... Bitter she didn't get a cut?

[tim31]

UPDATE: Duchess may have jumped the gun re lack of stupidity

A relative of the New Zealand couple who scored millions of dollars in a banking error, and who is believed to have fled with the pair, has told friends she is drinking Chinese beer and enjoying the Asian heat.

The fugitive couple and their small entourage have been traced to Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China, largely via one of the band's indiscreet updates on social networking site Facebook.

Meanwhile the bank employee who made the blunder is reportedly being counselled after becoming traumatised by the error.

Rotorua couple Leo Gao and Kara Yang-Hurring fled New Zealand after a Westpac staff member accidentally deposited $NZ10 million into their account after they applied for a $NZ10,000 business overdraft.

The bank has since recovered about $NZ6 million, but the couple - who ran a BP service station in Rotorua that had just been put into receivership - skipped out of the country with the remaining millions.

Police announced last week they were hunting the pair.

But also missing with Gao and Yang-Hurring are Yang-Hurring's seven-year-old daughter Leena, Gao's mother, his business partner Huan Di Zhang and Yang-Hurring's sister Aroha Hurring, the New Zealand Herald reported.

New Zealand police said one of those family members had returned to Auckland from Hong Kong about lunchtime today, and was being questioned by police.

A friend told the New Zealand Herald that Aroha Hurring had been charting the group's journey on Facebook, after she joined Gao and Yang-Hurring a few days after the couple fled.

"She told me her sister had rung her from China and she was thinking of going over," the friend said.

"She wanted to know where she was ringing from. She had the country area code so I googled it [and it was the international code for Macau]."

Since then, Aroha Hurring has written on Facebook: "Aroha Hurring is having a Tsingtao beer. It's 30 degrees plus - the heat is good though."

On China, she wrote: "It's crazy. The only thing I hate is that they look at me funny."

The mother of Kara, and Aroha, Sue Hurring, appealed on New Zealand TV for her daughter to return home and turn herself in.

"We've just come from the police station trying to sort out this stupid, stupid bizarre situation," she said.

She said her daughter was honest and hardworking, and laid blame for the situation squarely on Gao.

"Well, I've, if you really want to know, I'd like to wring his blinging neck."

As the hunt continues, the employee responsible for their accidental windfall was so distressed by their error she was undergoing counselling, TVNZ reported.

Westpac said it was concerned at the attention the employee, who TVNZ said had more than 30 years of banking experience, was receiving and appealed for privacy.

"The impact of this episode is being felt by all of our employees, who are good people just doing their jobs," a spokesman told TVNZ.

"What should be remembered is the loss from this episode did not happen because of the error, but because of the behaviour of individuals who have taken advantage of the error."

They'll get them eventually, but by the time they do the money will be gone.

[Stark]

Frankly that isn't surprising at all. People REALLY don't seem to understand that social networking sites aren't some limited thing only your friends can look at.

The idea of fleeing with millions of dollars and then retaining contact with friends is dumb enough, but to actually update a public website is fucking awesome.

[General Zod]

Frankly that isn't surprising at all. People REALLY don't seem to understand that social networking sites aren't some limited thing only your friends can look at.

Well . . .they can be. If you're smart enough to actually restrict permissions.

[Stark]

Well I meant 'only nice people who won't tell the boss/cops/jesus about what I said', but I believe FB reveals your status publicly even if your profile is private. In all parts of life people who can't understand the internet is public get screwed by their own stupid gloating horseshit on social networking sites.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Does China have an extradition treaty with New Zealand?

[Stuart Mackey]

Does China have an extradition treaty with New Zealand?

Hong Kong only I think.

[PeZook]

You know, they're criminals and all, but who I have to wonder...who here would've done the same?

[Bounty]

You know, they're criminals and all, but who I have to wonder...who here would've done the same?

Leave your friends and loved ones behind and flee to an unknown land knowing that you can't return without getting arrested, using money that isn't yours? That's a huge undertaking you're talking about there. I can see how someone who is pretty much bankrupt and doesn't have much of a family life might be tempted, but even so...

[Alyeska]

I would look at the money laugh nervously, then contemplate what to do. Would probably involve a phone call to my mother. She would tell me to turn it into the bank, which I would likely do in short order. Life is already complicated. I needn't make it more so.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

If I had citizenship in a country which never extradited under any circumstance and was still free, fair, and tolerant? I'd think long and hard, but since most of the people I'd want to help out are in the states, no, no, I definitely wouldn't do it. I would, however, quite honestly go ahead and try to see if I could bluff and sympathy cry my way as the Good Samaritan who reported it honestly into getting some kind of 25,000 USD reward for doing so, say...

[mr friendly guy]

According to an article I read, NZ doesn't have a formal extradition treaty with China, although police are requesting formal assistance from the Chinese government. Also note that one of the relatives that fled with the couple has now returned home and is being questioned by New Zealand police.

[Sky Captain]

What I don`t get is how they managed to extract that much money in cash from their bank account. Having a 10 million $ accidentally dumped in your account is one thing, but getting even less than half of it out in cash without attracting attention is completely another thing. I doubt you can simply go into bank and just ask I want 4 million in cash from my account handed out.