February 04, 2010

Nigerian scam victim paid out $452,000

A Woodend woman fell victim to the Nigerian scam and lost $452,206 from the rental car company she worked for at Christchurch Airport.

Jacqueline Louise de Berri, 48, used bank telegraph transfers to send the money to bank accounts in Spain.

Under the Nigerian scam, the money is immediately transferred out of the accounts and the Christchurch District Court was told this afternoon that it had not been recovered.

De Berri pleaded guilty to 13 charges of dishonestly using the bank telegraph transfer forms.

Judge Raoul Neave remanded her on bail to April 28 for a probation report and a reparation report on her ability to pay back the money.

A report will also cover her suitability to serve a sentence of home or community detention.

Police prosecutor Constable Andy Kennedy said de Berri had worked as a credit controller for a rental car firm at the airport since 1996, transferring funds to other branches of the international company.

Last year she received a fax saying that an engineer had died leaving US$14.8 million in a Spanish bank account.

The fax said they were looking for relatives who may be claimants for the money.

De Berri replied and exchanged a series of emails.

Eventually a request arrived for a deposit of 1000 Euros, which she paid.

More requests for money followed until by December 15 she had paid across a total of $452,206 in 13 transactions.

Police said she had been a victim of a Nigerian money scam.

When she was spoken to, she freely admitted the transfers saying she had hoped to be able to claim some of the $14.8 million to repay the money and get her out of the financial stress she was under.

She has no previous convictions.

She is now unemployed.