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A man has been found guilty of money laundering almost $2 million obtained from two Kiwi victims of a term deposit scam.
A jury this week found the 61-year-old Auckland man guilty on two counts of money laundering offences.
In late 2022, two unsuspecting New Zealanders were approached by offshore fraudsters advertising a fictious investment company.
Ultimately, they both “invested” a total of nearly $2m into the fictious company, with funds being transferred into a New Zealand-based account.
This account had been set up by Carel Johannes Viljoen.
Detective senior sergeant Craig Bolton, who oversees the Auckland City Police Financial Crime Unit, says Viljoen had been contacted separately by the offshore offenders.
“Our investigation found Viljoen opened a New Zealand-based bank account to facilitate his offending.
“An agreement was struck that money would be transferred to specific accounts in exchange for a fee.”
Viljoen pocketed a total of $61,581 from both transactions, says Bolton.
Following the police investigation, the money has since been returned.
Money laundering is not a victimless crime, Bolton says.
“This should serve as a wake-up call for any Kiwi that might be approached in these circumstances.
“You should be extremely wary if someone approaches you wanting to do a deal where you receive and move money to different bank accounts, in exchange for a fee,” he says.
“Money laundering is a criminal offence which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of seven years.”
Bolton says the Auckland Financial Crime Unit continues to investigate other instances of money laundering relating to term deposit scams, with other cases due before the court this year.
“I’d like to pay special mention to the detailed work carried out by detective James Priestley in this case,” Bolton says.
“We’re extremely pleased with the outcome in this case.”
Viljoen is due to be sentenced in June.
