A third person has admitted a role in a crime ring that scammed elderly victims out of their bank cards and then drained tens of thousands of dollars from their bank accounts.
Two have already been jailed, and now Tayla-Dane Korau, who turned 26 today, has admitted three charges of obtaining money by deception and is in custody awaiting sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on October 7.
Judge Raoul Neave remanded her for a pre-sentence report with an assessment for home detention, and referred the case for a possible restorative justice meeting where Korau would have the chance to apologise to the three victims.
Details of her offending are not yet available but victims of the scam have ranged in age up to 94 years.
Another woman, Leanna Korau, 27, of Wainoni, is due to make a remand appearance on Friday on five charges of causing loss by deception. She is in custody.
Henry Edward Halliday, also known as Henry Edward Taylor-Halliday, and Samuel Edward Taylor, 26, admitted three charges of dishonestly using bank cards and was jailed in May for two years four months.
Denise Cherelle Greig, 30, of Woolston, admitted three charges of dishonestly using a document and was jailed in July for 15 months.
Halliday and Greig had both admitted representative charges, indicating repeated offending.
A fifth person, Brendon Karl Dean Harris, 21, of Hei Hei, has pleaded not guilty to four charges of dishonestly obtaining control over a document, and the case is going to a jury trial.
The crime ring’s scam involved a person claiming to be from a bank telephoning elderly victims and telling them there was a problem with their bank cards which meant bills were unpaid and their power could be cut off unless the problem was sorted out.
The caller would then arrange for another person pretending to be a bank staff member to call on the victim to pick up their “faulty” bank card, get their PIN number, and replace the card with what turned out to be a Pressie card.
With the bank card then in the hands of the crime ring, the victim’s bank account would be raided with cash withdrawals and multiple purchases.
Individual victims have lost thousands of dollars.
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