New Zealand resident Hui (Leo) Gao applied to the Westpac bank for a $100,000 overdraft. The bank made a mistake with a decimal point and $10,000,000 landed in his account. Leo told his work mates that he'd just won the lotto and was off to China. He bolted nice and quick, taking the money of course. At the time the bank was still unaware of it's mistake. His wife Kara Hurring then fled New Zealand only to return later. She was tried for the theft and found guilty of 30 counts relating to the incident. She is awaiting sentencing. Of the original $10,000,000 only $2.9 has been recovered. Gao had transferred the rest into Asian financial institutions. He's still at large. Is she getting the rough end of the stick?
It's a fairly easy mistake to make. My favourite tale of banking stupidity was the bank who offered to pay your mortgage for the first 12 months if you'd take out a mortgage with them. Everything was fine until one sharp-eyed customer decided to take out a mortgage with a 2 year repayment plan. No one at the bank realised the implication at the time so they had to honour his contract, but the promotion was swiftly withdrawn once the penny dropped.
