Police, Interpol and red-faced Westpac bank officials are still searching tonight for a pair of accidental millionaires from Rotorua.
It is believed $10 million was mistakenly deposited into Leo Gao and Cara Yang's bank account on May 5. Just four days later they had vanished.
Westpac's slogan is 'Making the Most of Life', and that appears to be exactly what Gao and his girlfriend are doing.
Struggling to make ends meet at a Rotorua service station, the pair applied for a $10,000 overdraft, when what is thought to be $10 million turned up in their account.
The pair took the money and ran. The rumour mill went into overdrive, and for once, the rumours were right. Now Gao, his mother, brothers, girlfriend Cara and her daughter Lena have vanished.
"At this stage the investigation has highlighted that the individuals involved in that business account have left New Zealand," says Det Snr Sgt David Harvey of Rotorua police.
Interpol are investigating where the family have fled to. So too are Westpac. And while they do not have any firm leads on their whereabouts yet, they do know how the bungle happened.
"The bank transacts tens of thousands of transactions every day, of very complex natures," says Craig Dowling. "Occasionally human error does creep in."
Exactly how Gao moved the money is unclear, but it would not have been easy.
Banking law specialist Ross Pennington says the chances of keeping an accidental windfall are slim, and you can forget fringe benefits too.
"The interest equally would not be something that the person is entitled to anymore than the principal amount," he says.
There are two possible exceptions - the first is if you did not know who the money came from; say, you found it on the street. The second is if you did not realise you had the money and spent it on something that did not benefit you at all, such as blowing it all on a dodgy investment.
Neither of these situations appears to apply to the accidental millionaires from Rotorua.
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