Bogus guard takes $70,000

Press, 20 December 1988, Page 1

Bogus guard takes $70,000

By

JENNY LONG

A man posing as a security guard accomplished a daring $70,000 theft at a Christchurch Westpac Bank yesterday afternoon.

The man, dressed as a security guard, entered the Shirley branch of the bank at 1.40 p.m., and presented “what appeared to be correct documentation to the tellers” who handed over the cash box containing $70,000, said Detective Andrew McAllum, of the Christchurch C. 1.8. The theft was discovered only when the real security guards arrived 20 minutes later. The police described the theft as daring and enterprising, and said they believed it to be one of the largest in Christchurch for some time.

The Shirley branch appears to be the second that the man had targeted yesterday. Earlier, a man had gone into the Westpac bank at Merivale. After presenting identification, he was given a green canvas bag containing only documents, including cheques, as no money was due to be collected.

Merivale staff had not been suspicious of the man’s identification.

The police last evening declined to release a description of the offender, but said that he appeared to have made his getaway in a mustard-coloured Suzuki van.

Neither the green canvas bag from Merivale, nor the cashbox from Shirley had been recovered by late yesterday, and the police are appealing for help from the public.

The cashbox is aluminium, about 18in (45cm) square, with “Shirley” inscribed on the lid. It has a small lock on the top, “but

anybody who is interested would be able to get into it,” said Detective McAllum. Detective McAllum declined to name the bank’s security firm. However, he said that security procedures would be investigated as part of the inquiry. He would not detail the type of documentation that security guards must present. “Obviously the person knew the systems that are used in uplifting the cash deposits. We don’t want too many copycat ones at the moment.” Businesses that were using security firms should take steps to positively identify the guards, including their badges and identification photographs, Detective McAllum said. The regional manager of Westpac, Mr Ewan Maxwell, said any customers who had made transactions at either Shirley or Merivale yesterday should call the bank. Some people would find that their transactions had not been completed, and money had not been credited to their accounts. Any cheques which customers had presented to the bank would immediately have been crossed and made payable to the bank, and could not be cashed, Mr Maxwell said. "We would like to apologise to everybody, and assure them that we will have a large team of people working to put it right. “(The theft) is a good trick isn’t it?” said Mr Maxwell. “Dressed as a security guard, in all the razzmatazz of the company concerned.”