TigerLily
May 25th, 2009, 05:51 PM
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090521/twl-accidental-nz-millionaires-go-on-the-3fd0ae9.html
Interpol are hunting a couple who have fled New Zealand after a bank paid £4.9m into their account by mistake.
Huan Di Zhang and Hui Gao asked Westpac Bank for a $10,000 (£4,900) overdraft but instead received a deposit of $10m (£4.9m), according to the New Zealand Press Agency.
The pair are believed to have owned a petrol filling station in the North Island tourist resort of Rotorua, which has since shut down and been put into receivership.
"The individuals associated with this account are believed to have left New Zealand," said Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey of New Zealand Police.
"Police (are) working through Interpol to locate those individuals," he went on.
"Westpac Bank has recovered some of the money which had been inappropriately withdrawn."
He did not say how much had been recovered and refused to confirm any other details about the case.
Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown said it is a criminal offence for someone to spend money accidentally put into their bank account if they know the money is not theirs.
Ms Brown has been banking obudsman for 15 years and told Rotorua's The Daily Post she has only seen 10 to 20 cases of this nature.
They are legally referred to as "payment by mistake", she said.
"There haven't been cases of millions of dollars but certainly ones where there have been several thousand dollars," she said.
Interpol are hunting a couple who have fled New Zealand after a bank paid £4.9m into their account by mistake.
Huan Di Zhang and Hui Gao asked Westpac Bank for a $10,000 (£4,900) overdraft but instead received a deposit of $10m (£4.9m), according to the New Zealand Press Agency.
The pair are believed to have owned a petrol filling station in the North Island tourist resort of Rotorua, which has since shut down and been put into receivership.
"The individuals associated with this account are believed to have left New Zealand," said Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey of New Zealand Police.
"Police (are) working through Interpol to locate those individuals," he went on.
"Westpac Bank has recovered some of the money which had been inappropriately withdrawn."
He did not say how much had been recovered and refused to confirm any other details about the case.
Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown said it is a criminal offence for someone to spend money accidentally put into their bank account if they know the money is not theirs.
Ms Brown has been banking obudsman for 15 years and told Rotorua's The Daily Post she has only seen 10 to 20 cases of this nature.
They are legally referred to as "payment by mistake", she said.
"There haven't been cases of millions of dollars but certainly ones where there have been several thousand dollars," she said.