Cath Mulalley, 55, a former London Fire Brigade member, emigrated to New Zealand with her husband in 2008 with the couple welcoming a baby four years later. In June, she received a call from a hoax advisor who convinced her to transfer $325,000 NZD into a new Citibank account.
After husband Carl fell ill and was left unable to work, the couple decided to apply for life insurance cover. It was this event that made her a target for the devastating scam. "He called me back two days later and passed it to his manager because he thought something wasn’t right – a few days later they told me it was a scam. Apart from sheer panic, it’s quite hard to describe how I feel.BNZ was able to recover some of the money that was lost after chasing down the recipient account - a legitimate business account in Australia that had been taken over by scammers.
Police in New Zealand are reportedly investigating a number of scams similar to the one Cath fell for - Cath's case is reportedly the largest amount that has been stolen. A spokesperson for BNZ said they are working hard to recover the remainder of Cath's money.