Palmerston North mum, son lose $200,000 to scam

The 71-year-old woman has lost about $70,000 in retirement savings and her son, 46, owes more than $100,000 for his contribution to "a very believable" scam, which has played out during the past 18 months.
A reverse mortgage has also been taken out on their home.

Both declined to be named.

The son, who lives with his mum, told the Manawatu Standard yesterday he also has other debts to meet.

He declined to say how much debt, except to say, "too damn much".

"I can meet the repayments. That's all I can worry about."
To add to their woes, the police cannot do anything. The pair not only voluntarily gave the money away, they continue to do so.

The pair are trusting who they believe to be the Central Bank of Nigeria to "investigate" the fraudulent email scam and have paid a further $10,000 for the privilege.

The woman fervently believes the "Nigerian bank" won't let her down "I trust them," she said and maintains some of the emails were legitimate.

Meanwhile, they incurred "late fees" for not getting an application to the bank in time.

Yesterday, sitting in her living room filled with hundreds of collectible porcelain dolls, the woman spoke of her rapport with the scammers, how they often exchanged information about family members and "day-to-day banter".

When the son was on the phone, he and the scammer would "have a good crack (joke) with one another. It was like brotherly banter," she said.

Hard-luck stories were sent to the pair and the woman would reply to their pleas to send money.

"The man said his daughter had had a fall."

On this occasion, a payment was made of $400. However, some individual payments reached $10,000.

The elderly woman rejects she is lonely, saying she keeps busy in her job as a caregiver and other voluntary community groups.

"I do have a life."

She fervently trusts the Nigerian bank's spokesman to retrieve some, if not all, of their money by a December 20 deadline the bank has set. The woman said a Nigerian court case is also pending.

"I know they won't let me down."

Read the rest of the story at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3891882a11,00.html