Source: Radio New Zealand
Alexander and Senia Filipo sit in the dock at Auckland District Court on Tuesday. RNZ / Liu Chen
An Auckland couple who accidentally received $158,000 in a bank transfer error, spending most of the money within days, have each been sentenced to six months of community detention.
Senia Filipo, 39, and her 37-year-old husband, Alexander, were sentenced at the Auckland District Court on Tuesday.
Mistaken transfer
In January 2024, Mt Roskill pensioner Sit Bong (Andrew) Che, now 79, tried to transfer his life savings from Barclays Bank in the United Kingdom to his Westpac account in New Zealand.
However, Che missed a digit when entering his account details due to what he claimed was a “sticky keyboard” and, following the bank’s own protocols, Westpac added a zero to the suffix, which ended up sending the money to Senia Filipo’s account.
Senia received the money a couple of weeks later, withdrawing $3000 from two ATMs, paying off a loan worth about $18,694 and making two large transfers to her husband’s Westpac account on the same day, according to the summary of facts.
Two days later, she bought a car for $49,000, and then withdrew a total of $9000 on five other occasions, primarily using the money at food and retail stores.
In March, Senia made her last large purchase of $1500 at Mag and Tyre before the acquired funds had been used.
She was charged with intending to deprive Che of $158,643.88 after obtaining control over the money, irrespective of how it was obtained.
Sit Bong (Andrew) Che outside Auckland District Court in 2025. RNZ / Liu Chen
Senia told Alexander she had unexpectedly received a large sum of money in her account.
Alexander then received two payments from Senia totaling $59,000, and another $5000 on a later date.
He was charged with having been reckless as to whether the money transferred to him had been obtained by an imprisonable offence.
The couple’s charges each carried a maximum penalty of seven years in prison, with both pleading guilty.
Che only discovered that he had not received the funds in March, notifying Westpac.
Following an investigation, the bank recovered a little over $28,000.
Che made several efforts to get his money back, contacting police, the banks in New Zealand and the UK as well as the banking ombudsmen in both jurisdictions, receiving a refund in full by Barclays in May last year.
Gambling windfall implausible
Senia and Alexander Filipo claimed they thought the money was winnings from an online casino game.
However, Judge Simon Lance found the explanation implausible.
The couple failed to make further enquiries into the nature of the funds, even though Senia’s bank statement listed Barclays as the sender instead of a casino, Lance said.
The judge also noted discrepancies in the couple’s accounts, questioning why any winnings would be paid to Senia if Alexander was the person who gambled.
He also considered the way in which the large amount of money was spent.
“They didn’t think to themselves that this can’t be right. They just went and spent it,” Judge Lance said. “[Claiming the money was a] windfall from online gambling lacks plausibility.
“It makes it hard for me to accept that the couple honestly thought the money was theirs and now they have pleaded guilty.”
The couple both applied for discharge without conviction and had sought permanent name suppression.
Acknowledging the couple did not hold any previous convictions, accepting their remorse as genuine and recognising their need to support five young children, Judge Lance sentenced each of them to a six-month community detention.
The judge refused to grant permanent name suppression as he didn’t feel the threshold for extreme hardship had been met.
In a victim impact statement, Che said he had “suffered significant financial, physical and emotional hardship over approximately 18 months”.
“The funds taken represented my retirement savings,” Che said. “During this period, I experienced severe stress, difficulty sleeping and eating, and lost over 10kg in weight.”
Che said he had been unable to make a substantial financial contribution to his son’s wedding and had become socially withdrawn.
“Justice [has] been served,” he said.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
