Run Leo Run (or "What would you do with $3.8 million NZ?)
If you're in need of a pick me up, I bring this little gem from my home country.
Last month Westpac (a big name bank in NZ) mistakenly credited a Rotorua man's business account with $10,000,000 (NZ) instead of the $10,000 overdraft he had requested. Within days the man had shuttered his failing gas station, put his house on the market and he, his girlfriend, the girlfriend's baby and her (the girlfriend's) younger sister had fled the country with an unspecified amount of money.
Turns out the bank only became aware of what was going on after it had been tipped off. They managed to block transfer of $2.8 million that was still in the account, and tracked down and recovered another $3.4 million.
Still the absconder, now known to be someone called Leo Gao (said at one point to be Korean, but Gao is a Chinese surname) and his fellow fugitives got away with about $4 million NZ which is around $2.5 million US.
They were tracked to Hong Kong because the girlfriend's sister stupidly bragged about where they were on her Facebook page. She subsequently decided to return to NZ where she was interviewed by the cops and then let go. There have been no further news on where they are or what they are up to but the NZ police have put in a request to the Chinese Public Security Bureau (Gongan Ju) through Interpol, to help them find the fugitives.
A whole bunch of people have been named in a lawsuit, including Leo Gao's business partner and a Macau gambling casino which probably helped Gao get the money out.
The woman who did the data entry has not been penalized but Westpac is said to be asking some tough questions of the "checks and safeguards" people. Their defense so far has been something like "large sums of money flow through our commercial accounts all the time". Which I suppose is true. Still, this isn't a good look.
Ironic coda spotted by TG: At the same time all this hit the news, Westpac had ads up offering people a chance to win $10,000 if they opened a new account with them.
I have to say, Leo Gao has some pretty large baozi to think he could get away with a stunt like this. On the other hand, this has all the markings of a drunken student response to sudden "good fortune": "Oh my god, dude! The bag's full of money!!! Let's take it and get the hell out of here!!!!!!!!!" A sort of "Harold and Kumar have a banking error in their favor".
For no other reason than he is making the suits look bad, I say "Run, Leo! Run!" He should probably also spend as much of it as he can because they'll probably put him away for as long as they can for ... "misuse of an electronic document".
('s not theft you see since the bank was the one who put the money in his account)
Last month Westpac (a big name bank in NZ) mistakenly credited a Rotorua man's business account with $10,000,000 (NZ) instead of the $10,000 overdraft he had requested. Within days the man had shuttered his failing gas station, put his house on the market and he, his girlfriend, the girlfriend's baby and her (the girlfriend's) younger sister had fled the country with an unspecified amount of money.
Turns out the bank only became aware of what was going on after it had been tipped off. They managed to block transfer of $2.8 million that was still in the account, and tracked down and recovered another $3.4 million.
Still the absconder, now known to be someone called Leo Gao (said at one point to be Korean, but Gao is a Chinese surname) and his fellow fugitives got away with about $4 million NZ which is around $2.5 million US.
They were tracked to Hong Kong because the girlfriend's sister stupidly bragged about where they were on her Facebook page. She subsequently decided to return to NZ where she was interviewed by the cops and then let go. There have been no further news on where they are or what they are up to but the NZ police have put in a request to the Chinese Public Security Bureau (Gongan Ju) through Interpol, to help them find the fugitives.
A whole bunch of people have been named in a lawsuit, including Leo Gao's business partner and a Macau gambling casino which probably helped Gao get the money out.
The woman who did the data entry has not been penalized but Westpac is said to be asking some tough questions of the "checks and safeguards" people. Their defense so far has been something like "large sums of money flow through our commercial accounts all the time". Which I suppose is true. Still, this isn't a good look.
Ironic coda spotted by TG: At the same time all this hit the news, Westpac had ads up offering people a chance to win $10,000 if they opened a new account with them.
I have to say, Leo Gao has some pretty large baozi to think he could get away with a stunt like this. On the other hand, this has all the markings of a drunken student response to sudden "good fortune": "Oh my god, dude! The bag's full of money!!! Let's take it and get the hell out of here!!!!!!!!!" A sort of "Harold and Kumar have a banking error in their favor".
For no other reason than he is making the suits look bad, I say "Run, Leo! Run!" He should probably also spend as much of it as he can because they'll probably put him away for as long as they can for ... "misuse of an electronic document".
('s not theft you see since the bank was the one who put the money in his account)