A retired couple have been left 53-thousand dollars out of pocket after falling victim to a building scam
A retired couple have been left 53-thousand dollars out of pocket after falling victim to a building scam
18 August 2018
Ross and Judy Charlton engaged GJ Gardner to work on their new house in February, and received an invoice in early April purporting to be from the company, for 53-thousand dollars.
They paid via online banking, but received a second invoice later that month - also for 53-thousand dollars - which they also paid.
Their bank, Westpac, queried the two large transactions, which revealed the initial payment had not gone to GJ Gardner - and instead, into an ASB account of a Whangarei woman, and most of it transferred offshore.
It's thought the building company's emails were hacked.
Police are investigating.
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