New Zealand couple on run after $10m bank deposit error

Updated November 5 2012 - 7:45pm, first published May 21 2009 - 6:09am

A New Zealand couple are reportedly on the run after $NZ10 million - instead of $NZ10,000 - was mistakenly deposited in their bank account.The couple, who ran a Rotorua service station, were understood to have applied for a $NZ10,000 overdraft from Westpac but instead had the larger amount mistakenly paid into their account.Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey said some of the money had since been withdrawn and the couple had disappeared, the New Zealand Press Association reported.Interpol had been called in to help find them, NZPA said.The service station has closed its doors after going into receivership.Massey University banking lecturer Claire Matthews said the pair were unlikely to get away with it, "They've taken funds that they're not entitled to, that are not theirs," she told Newstalk ZB."They've effectively, I guess, become thieves but it is only going to be a matter of time."The business owners could not realistically argue they honestly believed they were entitled to such a huge sum of money, she said.Westpac said court action had begun to recover the money but refused to comment further.

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