A visiting United Kingdom national, who scammed New Zealanders out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, won’t be leaving the country anytime soon, police say.
Jack Dylan Hennessy faces three years, three months imprisonment over his involvement in a fake Police scam which emerged earlier this year.
The scam involves people being cold called by people posing as police officers under the guise of asking them to assist a “covert Police operation”.
Victims are conned into withdrawing thousands in cash, to be collected in-person by a fake officer, police say.
Twenty-six-year-old Hennessy took $337,700 in cash from Aucklanders.
Detective senior sergeant Craig Bolton, of Auckland City Police’s financial crime unit, says investigators worked quickly to track down the man who had been appearing at victims’ front doors.
“A short visit to rip off New Zealanders has turned into a three-year prison sentence,” he says.
“Right from the start, our investigators were determined to make people aware and put a stop to this offending.”
Police acknowledge the sentence handed down in the Auckland District Court.
“It sends a message to the offshore organised criminal groups running these operations that we are not a soft target,” Bolton says.
In August, Hennessy pleaded guilty to 27 charges, including 25 counts of obtains by deception.
“A prison sentence is a clear warning to those who may be recruited to be cash couriers by these criminal groups – we’ll catch up with you,” Bolton says.
Two other men are also facing court proceedings for their alleged roles in the re-emergence of the scam in other parts of the country.
Another UK national remains before the Wellington District Court after his arrest in August.
Meanwhile, a 24-year-old Auckland man is still before the Waitākere District Court on a fraud charge.
In August, real police officers from Waitematā District lay in wait for the man after he allegedly came to collect cash from another victim of the scam.
Bolton says: “Confidence scams such as this one impact their victims, who are often vulnerable members of our community.
“This has had a devastating financial loss for these victims.”
