A New Zealand man who fled to China after millions of dollars were accidentally put in his bank account has been jailed for four years and seven months.
Hui “Leo” Gao left for China in 2009 after Westpac Bank mistakenly gave him a NZ$10m ($7.5m; £4.65m) overdraft. His former girlfriend, Kara Hurring, received nine months’ home detention.
The pair, dubbed the “accidental millionaires”, were sentenced at a court in Rotorua. They were caught last year after being on the run for more than two years.
Gao, 31, pleaded guilty to seven charges of theft totalling NZ$6.7m in June. He was arrested and extradited from Hong Kong in December. He said in court that he would not be able to pay back the money, New Zealand media reported.
Hurring, 33, was found guilty of money laundering, attempted fraud and theft in May. She was arrested after returning to New Zealand in February 2011 and convicted in a Rotorua court after a four-day trial. She pleaded not guilty, saying Gao had told her he won the lottery. She was also ordered to pay reparations of about NZ$11,800 to the bank.
Westpac did not comment on the sentencing. Reports said the bank has recovered NZ$2.9m but is still seeking NZ$3.79m.
In 2009, Gao had asked the bank for a NZ$100,000 overdraft to help support his struggling garage. The bank found out about the error days after transferring the millions into Gao’s business account. But by then, police said, the couple had transferred more than half of the money into other accounts and then fled to Hong Kong.
They allegedly went on a gambling spree in Macau and southern China last year. The couple are reported to have separated soon after they arrived in China. Hurring returned to New Zealand after having a baby. They have been on bail at different addresses before the sentencing, reports said, and their young son is believed to be with family in China. Hurring has a daughter from another relationship.
I hadn’t heard about it but now there’s a movie, too:
I’m trying to remember a scam I heard about, not sure if it was real life or a film?
They stole small amounts of money out of lots of people’s bank accounts, invested it on the stock market overnight, made a killing, put the money back in the peoples bank accounts in the morning, and because it was small amounts most didn’t notice, and kept the proceeds from the stock market profits
I suppose if you knew what you were doing you could do that
Nick Leeson thought he knew what he was doing when he played ducks and drakes on the Stock Market - but the “I’m sorry” note he left when he ran for it didn’t quite make up for losing over £800 million for Barings, pushing the oldest UK Merchant Bank into Insolvency!
I was going to say that £150k isn’t worth the risk I’d be taking. I mean, seriously, how long would it last? If I went on the run, leaving everything I owned behind, think how much it would cost to replace essentials - clothing, a roof over my head, etc. But then I remembered it was 300 times his monthly salary, so to him that amount means 25 years worth of salary. Even if he was getting the average monthly take home pay in Chile of £750, that would still represent 16.67 years worth of pay.
But to get a perspective here for us in the UK, the average monthly take home pay is £2491. So 200 times that amount would be nearly £500k. Puts a slightly different slant on it for us.
Still not worth the risk in my book though. I couldn’t live with the guilt or the stress.
When working in the bank, before December 2003 (when I left), one payslip showed an overpayment of £5, or £7,000. As the Personnel (no HR back then!) office was on the same floor, I was soon in there, showing the lady who did the wages. I also seem to remember she never said thank you!
everyone can stop worrying - he’s staying with me for a while in oz - can’t say when or if he’ll be back but he is getting a nice suntan! everything is so much cheaper down under he says!!
What are you trying to say here, Todger…
