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A lonely widow caught in the hoax web of an online scammer has been convicted of fraud and will spend the next 10 years paying for the $ 50,000 mistake.
Margaret Ena Simpson from South Taranaki met the international scammer through an online dating site. She never saw the man in person and only knew him as Tony.
Tony used her as a mule to funnel money through a billing scam he was running at a Manawatū-based construction company.
Unbeknownst to Simpson, Tony had hijacked Palmer and Low Construction’s email account and was able to change invoices before they went to clients.
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The Cup America syndicate’s events arm Team New Zealand similarly lost $ 2.8 million after paying it to a scammer’s bank account in Hungary.
Tony told the 60-year-old woman, whose 22-year-old husband had died of cancer, that the money was going to show up in her bank account and instructed her to send the cash to two other accounts.
The first payment of $ 53,023.35 appeared in Simpson’s account on April 4. The next day he walked into the bank and sent $ 25,015 to an Australian account via foreign exchange.
Simpson also withdrew $ 13,300 in cash that he deposited back into his account the next day.
EMIRATES NZ TEAM
The Copa America syndicate’s events arm Team New Zealand lost $ 2.8 million to a similar internet scam.
She then sent another $ 25,000 to another Australian account, and told the bank staff that her Australian boyfriend had sent her the money.
Simpson was unaware that the $ 53,000 was actually an advance payment made to Palmer and Low on April 4, via internet banking, by retired couple Ross and Judith Charlton toward their dream home in Feilding.
The former South Taranaki couple made a second payment of the same amount on April 16, but then the bank’s fraud team raised the alarm.
The bank was able to reverse the second payment, but the Charltons kept $ 53,000 out of their pocket, and emotional stress affected their health.
On Wednesday, Simpson appeared before Judge Philip Recordon in Hāwera District Court on a money laundering charge.
Defense attorney Rajan Rai provided Simpson’s explanation so that Judith Charlton, who was in court, could hear it.
“The defendant says that she felt lonely and fell in love with this person who described himself as Tony, who was charming and kind,” Rai said.
“In hindsight, he realizes that he should have been suspicious and should have investigated this person Tony further when two large sums of money were deposited into his account.”
Rai said Simpson acknowledged that she had been reckless, but claimed that Tony’s genuine and kind personality had disarmed her from rational thinking.
Simpson promised to return the $ 53,000 to $ 100 a week of his benefit, Rai said.
Police prosecutor Sgt Steve Hickey said the Charltons kept in their impact statement the victim, which he read in court, that they were victims of Simpson’s selfish stupidity and that she had ignored the warning signs. .
“You didn’t ask any questions. You are not a victim. You didn’t lose anything. “
Ross Charlton still couldn’t face Simpson in person, Hickey said.
By the time Judith Charlton was told her money had been stolen, her heart sank, Hickey said, and the ongoing stress had caused significant health problems for the couple.
“It is impossible to accurately describe the feeling, it was horrible.”
The couple had to take out a mortgage to finish their house, but it was not at the level they expected.
“The brightness and happiness that we should have had when we moved into our new home weren’t there and they still aren’t, as two years later they are still not finished,” Hickey read.
Ross Charlton developed pneumonia, a blood clot in his leg and ended up with medically induced diabetes that required an expensive diet, and the couple were struggling to make ends meet.
“Last year I cried when our neighbor gave me a bag of green beans for dinner. This is how bad things have gone for us ”.
Hickey said there was an element of recklessness in Simpson’s behavior and similar problems were becoming more prevalent, citing the example of the New Zealand team.
Judge Recordon convicted Simpson, ordered her to pay the $ 53,000 in reparations at $ 100 per week, and sentenced her to 150 hours of community service.
Lepperton Ruru House child care center lost $ 54,000 in a similar scam in late 2018.
