Cath Mulalley, 55, decided to take out life insurance and invest her savings following an operation by her husband Carl which left him disabled and unable to work. This former firefighter from London, who has saved all her life, has just seen everything she had managed to collect go up in smoke.
Devastated, she calls for help on the Gofundme platform: “My name is Cath and I set up this fundraiser to help me replace my pension from the #London Fire Brigade which I have recently lost to a sophisticated scam. I was tricked into transferring the money to a Citibank investment fund, which turned out to be a scam. I made the transaction at my local branch with the help of the staff, thinking they would make sure my money was safe. Unfortunately, that was not the case. »
“Apparently New Zealand banks are under no obligation to ensure that your investments are legitimate and safe. Which is amazing considering they are a financial institution. Due to lack of due diligence, all my savings are gone and they tell me it’s not their responsibility. My whole family has been turned upside down and we don’t know where to turn. My husband is disabled by medical issues from an operation and our house is collapsing around us. We are really at our wit’s end. If you can help us in any way, no matter how small, it will help us. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. »
The couple, parents of a young girl, lost nearly 170,000 pounds (about 195,000 euros) in what they thought was an investment fund. She told the Mirror: “Other than sheer panic, it’s hard to describe what I’m feeling. I have panic attacks about what I’m going to do because I just don’t know. »
Cath quit her job with the London Fire Brigade in 2008 when she moved to New Zealand with Carl. She took with her the heavy pension that she had built up over her years of service with the firefighters. But, after Carl found himself unable to work, the couple thought it would be a good idea to put some money in a safe place for their daughter, Eva.
So she went to her local branch of Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) and the staff made the transfer of her funds no questions asked. From then on, his bank account was empty.
“I contacted the bank to report a problem. The bank finally called me two days later and told me that they had forwarded the file to their manager because he thought something was wrong. A few days later they told me it was a scam. In the days that followed, I was in shock and worked day and night until I suffered from depression and was sent home. »
To date, Cath has managed to recover 35,000 pounds. The bank says it can’t do anything.
“I always put up with living in the house because I knew that one day we would renovate it, but now we can’t afford it. I had a light at the end of the tunnel and now it’s gone. »