Accidental millionaires in NZ escape with $2.3M

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A businessman and his girlfriend, whose bank accidentally handed them a $6.1 million credit line, have managed to flee the country with more than a third of the cash, the bank said Friday.

An international search is under way for the couple, who are believed to have gone on the run, possibly to Hong Kong or China, to avoid having to give the money back.

On Friday, a New Zealand woman told the TV3 network that the couple sought by police were her daughter Kara Yang and boyfriend Leo Gao, who were traveling with Yang's 7-year-old daughter, Leena.

Sue Hurring said that while the situation was "stupid, bizarre," her daughter was "honest."

"She has never pinched a thing in her life — probably as a little girl, yes — but she is so honest, so honest," she told the network.

The New Zealand Press Association also reported the names of the couple.

Police have not identified the pair. Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said Interpol was investigating in Hong Kong and was also working with officials in Beijing.

Westpac Bank said in a statement Friday that the couple, who ran a gas station in the North Island city of Rotorua, had a bank overdraft of New Zealand $100,000 ($61,000). On Thursday, the bank had mistakenly said the couple's overdraft was worth NZ$10,000.

But in formalizing this credit limit — meant for the gas station the couple ran — the bank accidentally opened a line of credit for NZ$10 million ($6.1 million), the statement said. Initial details from the bank indicated that money had actually been deposited into their account.

An account holder then tried to transfer about NZ$6.7 million ($4 million) out of the account, but the bank was able recover NZ$2.8 million ($1.7 million), the bank said. The statement did not specify how it got the money back.

"Westpac is continuing to vigorously pursue the outstanding amount," the bank said.

Companies Office records list Gao and another person not connected to the heist as owners of the gas station, which police said filed for bankruptcy protection this month.

Westpac says it considers the money to have been stolen but conceded it was human error at the bank that made the couple accidental millionaires.

Hurring, a hairdresser in the South Island town of Blenheim, pleaded Friday for her daughter to stop running.

"Just come home now; it will be OK," she told the TV3 network.
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Toddler buys earthmover in online auction

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A New Zealand mom made some online bids on toys before napping. Then her 3-year-old daughter took over and bought a bigger plaything than expected — a huge earth-moving digger for a cool $12,300.

Pipi Quinland made the winning 20,000 New Zealand dollar ($12,300) bid on the Kobelco digger with a few mouse clicks at the auction site TradeMe while her parents slept, the Rodney Times newspaper reported in northern New Zealand.

"The first I knew about it was when I came down and opened up the computer," said Pipi's mother, Sarah Quinlan.

"I saw an e-mail from TradeMe saying I had won an auction and another e-mail from the seller saying something like 'I think you'll love this digger,'" she was quoted as saying in the paper.

Quinlan said she had made auction bids on several toy sets and assumed she had bought a toy digger.

"It wasn't until I went back and reread the e-mails that I saw $20,000 — and got the shock of my life."

She immediately called the auction site and the seller to explain what happened.

TradeMe reimbursed the seller's costs for the auction and the digger was relisted.

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