“I had €195,000, my light at the end of the tunnel but it flew away”

Kath Mullally, 55, decided to take out life insurance and invest her savings after her husband Carl had an operation that left him disabled and unable to work. This former London firefighter who has saved all her life has just seen everything she managed to collect.

Devastated, she calls for help on the GoFundMe platform: “My name is Cath and I set up this fundraiser to help convert my pension from the #London Fire Brigade, which I recently found into a sophisticated scam. Lost it. I was tricked into transferring money to a Citibank investment fund, which turned out to be a scam. I transacted at my local branch with the help of the staff, thinking they would make sure my money was safe. Unfortunately, it was not so. ,

“Obviously the banks of New Zealand are not obligated to make sure that your investments are legitimate and safe. Which is surprising given that they are a financial institution. Due to lack of due diligence, all my savings were gone and they told me that It’s not their responsibility. My whole family is turned upside down and we don’t know where to turn. My husband is handicapped by medical problems from an operation and our house is collapsing all around us. We’re really at our wit’s end If you can help us in any way, no matter how small, it will help us. I sincerely thank you. »

The parents of a young girl, the couple lost around £170,000 (about €195,000) in what they thought was an investment fund. She told the Mirror: “Aside from the panic, it’s hard to describe what I’m feeling. I have panic attacks about what I’m going to do because I don’t know. »

Cath left her job with the London Fire Brigade in 2008 when she moved to New Zealand with Carl. She took with her the huge pension she had built up over her years of service with firefighters. But, when Carl found himself unable to work, the couple thought it would be a good idea to keep some money in a safe place for their daughter, Eva.

So she went to her local branch of the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) and the staff transferred her money, no questions asked. Since then his bank account was empty.

“I approached the bank to report a problem. The bank finally called me two days later and said they had sent the file to their manager as they thought something was wrong. A few days later he told me it was a scam. In the ensuing days, 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. The bank says it can’t do anything.

“I always left the house because I knew 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. »