14 DAY TRIAL // A lawyer from New Zealand might have broken a record that wouldn't make anyone proud. He ended up paying close to a million dollars (700,000 EUR) to 419 scammers from Amsterdam which promised $27 million (19 million EUR) to one of his customers.
According to The New Zealand Herald, Jennifer Taukamo received an email in which she was promised the $27 million (19 million EUR) inheritance from someone in Amsterdam. Because she was afraid to handle the deal on her own, she asked John David Rangitauir, a lawyer, to help her with the transaction.
You might be wondering how they could fall for such an easy scam, but this wasn't your everyday hoax. The crooks invited them to Amsterdam and showed them the piles of money which allegedly needed to be chemically cleaned before they could be handed over.
Rangitauir was promised $6 million (4.2 million EUR) for his contribution so he got really involved, especially after Ms Taukamo fell ill.
The crooks began asking for large sums of money which were supposedly needed to clear the inheritance so the lawyer borrowed $500,000 (350,000 EUR) from a bank. Since it was not enough, he also took more than $300,000 (210,000 EUR) from a Maori trust that he chaired.
Since at the time the Maori trust made a lot of money, he convinced the other holders to leave the sum in a bank where it would earn them a good interest. Instead of doing so, he used all the cash for the so-called transfer process.
During a period of almost five months he transferred the money to Amsterdam in nine lots, hoping that soon he will hit the jackpot. Unfortunately for him, after he realized that no money will ever come in their possession, the gig was up.
The 58-year-old former lawyer is now facing charges that accuse him of theft and deception.
One one hand, it's clear that he didn't know what he got himself into, but the fact that remains is that he shouldn't have gambled the money of his associates.
There's a lesson to be learned by all of us in this story. 419 scams sometimes are taken to the limit to earn the trust of potential victims, but in the end, no one will hand you over millions without a very good reason.