"Look at all this free money, honey!"

The “runaway millionaire” is running no more.  In 2009, Leo Gao asked for a $100,000 overdraft to support his ailing service station in Rotorua, New Zealand.  Well, that $100,000 became $10 million thanks to an error by Westpac.  When Gao noticed the error, he and girlfriend Kara Hurring split the money up into multiple accounts, then took off for China.  Well, while crossing from China to Hong Kong at Lok Ma Chau, Leo Gao was finally captured by Interpol authorities.

“There has been a significant amount of work under way behind the scenes — but for obvious reasons we haven’t been in a position to discuss it,” said Detective Inspector Mark Loper of the three-year joint work by police in China, New Zealand, and Hong King.  “Even after Hurring’s arrest, our focus remained on eventually being able to speak to the other alleged offender.”

Gao is being held on charges of money laundering and theft, which seems excessive since the bank is the one that screwed up, not Gao.  Still, when you get a bank error, you’d best report it rather than gamble it away, because the trouble that comes with keeping mistakenly-gotten gains is way more than it’s worth.  That said, if someone gave me $10 million?  I’d probably disappear, too.

Tags: million dollar bank error leads to arrest, man arrested after stealing million bank error, Leo Gao, Westpac, New Zealand, Hong King,  Rotorua, service station manager arrested after stealing million bank error, mistakes, runaway millionaire, Detective Inspector Mark Loper, Kara Hurring, Interpol

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