Lost £170,000 pension to brutal fraud after years working as a firefighter in London – I’m devastated

A mother who has devoted years of her life to the London Fire Service has been left devastated after losing her £170,000 pension to a brutal fraud.

Cass Mullally, 55, has decided to invest her life in life insurance. savings After surgery complications left husband Karl invalid and unable to work.

The pair had a 10-year-old daughter and had her future on the back of their minds.

And even though I passed through my hometown Bank Branch transferring £170,000 to what she had in mind investment Fund, Cass caught in ‘sophisticated’ scam’ And fighting to get my savings back.

she said mirror: “Aside from the sheer panic, it’s very difficult to describe how I feel.

“I have a panic attack because I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Now 55, she has left the company. London Fire Brigade in 2008 when she and Karl moved new zealand.

She took with her a large pension she had accumulated over the years dedicated to firefighting.

However, after Karl was unable to work, the two decided it would be prudent to put the money in a safe place for their daughter Eva.

Cath had completed an online insurance form in June, so it was not surprising that a few days later he received a phone call from a man claiming to be an investment advisor for Citibank, New Zealand.

She then went to her local Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) branch and said staff had successfully transferred NZD 325,000 (£170,000) to her new Citibank account without question.

However, Kath becomes suspicious when the scammer calls her to say she hasn’t received the money, even though the bank account is empty.

The former firefighter said he immediately called his bank and asked where the money was, whether it was in Citibank or in his own account.

Kath said she was kept on hold and moved between people until a man told her to call her back.

She said: “He finally called me two days later and said he thought something was wrong and gave it to his manager.

“A few days later I was told it was a scam.

“After a few days, I went into shock and worked day and night shifts until I had a major breakdown and was sent home.”

‘There’s nothing they can do’

After tracking down the recipient’s account, it turned out to be a legitimate business account. Australia Hijacked by scammers, BNZ only recovered £35,000 or NZD 67,000.

But Cass said BNZ now claims “there is nothing they can do” to refund or recover the remaining money, even though they failed to recognize the fraud during the transfer. .

In a letter to Cath seen by The Mirror, BNZ admits that one of its bank employees helped transfer money on an iPad at the branch.

In the same memo, BNZ claims it “currently lacks the ability to match account numbers to account holders at the interbank level.”

But Cath says if BNZ had just called a Citibank branch: Auckland To verify the account number, the fraud “never happened”.

Now Cath was forced to start on his own go fund me Trying to recover her life savings, not just for her daughter, but to renovate a house that is “falling apart”.

“I don’t know if Karl will be able to go back to work. I lost almost all my pension from the London Fire Service.

“I always dealt with living in the house because I knew we would renovate it someday, but I can’t afford it right now.

“There was light at the end of the tunnel, but now it’s gone.”

“sophisticated and sophisticated”

A BNZ spokesperson claimed that they worked hard to recover as much of Cass’ money as possible.

A spokesperson told The Mirror:

“We don’t believe we could have done more to prevent it.

“This sophisticated and sophisticated scam was initiated when a customer unknowingly engaged a fraudster while searching for financial services online.”

A spokeswoman said this type of scam relies on people believing that seemingly legitimate online connections are what they say they are.

They added: “Unfortunately, our customers are unknowingly exposed to scammers and money fraud long before they go to our branch and ask for help completing a transaction. I intended to conclude a formal arrangement.

“The transaction was initiated by the customer, and the information and documentation provided, as well as conversations with branch employees, provided no evidence that the planned transaction was fraudulent.

“Since the transfer was made to a valid New Zealand bank account number and provided a valid bank branch address, such fixed deposit transfers are very common across the banking industry.

“When our staff asked the customer to call Citibank to confirm the transaction, the customer relied on the already established relationship between the contact details and the fraudulent transaction to confirm the account. I called a scammer on .”