Cut and copy used for $15m fraud

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A woman used scissors and a photocopier to create false documents and gain more than $15 million in mortgages for unsuspecting clients.

Some have now lost their homes – and others are struggling to pay their mortgages – while the woman earned commissions and became one of her company's most successful brokers.

She faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty yesterday in Wellington District Court to four charges of using forged documents, in part of a larger mortgage fraud.

The woman, who has name suppression, ran the company's branch office, doctoring documents to help clients get loans for mortgages.

At the time of her offending, the branch office was the best-performing in the country, a record that led to the woman's demise.

Sixty-six clients got caught up in her actions. Three have lost their homes because they could not afford their mortgage repayments. None knew what she was doing.

In total, the woman obtained $15,101,375 in mortgages.

According to court documents obtained by The Dominion Post, the woman – a 43-year-old mother – had four methods to bolster clients' mortgage applications.

She created fake bank statements, bogus letters from fictitious employers and boarders, doctored Inland Revenue documents, and altered copies of sale and purchase agreements.

Her forgeries were far from sophisticated, requiring only a pair of scissors and a photocopier.

"The document was created by physically cutting out client details from one form, placing them on other bank statements present in the office, and photocopying them," the court documents say.

"They were used to support borrowers' income in applications to enable them to obtain funding that they would not otherwise have been able to obtain."

It is not known how much the woman made from her scheme.

The offending happened between September 2006 and July 2008, when the woman became the focus of investigation by the parent company.

The firm began an audit into loan applications it had received through the woman, an investigation that stemmed from her success.

"They did so because they noticed that her branch was the highest performing branch in the country, which was at odds with its geographical location," the court documents say.

"Ultimately it was ascertained that fraudulent offending involving 66 files had taken place."

The woman voluntarily attended an interview with the Serious Fraud Office on May 28, when she admitted the offending, according to the documents. She estimated she acted fraudulently about once a month.

Most of the loans obtained through the woman's actions are still being repaid.

However, three properties have been sold at mortgagee sale. Twenty-nine of the loans are in arrears by a total of $185,985.

The woman has been remanded on bail to January 27 for sentencing.

HOW SHE DID IT

She created bank statements that overstated how much money her clients had.

The fake documents stated they had the money to pay for a house deposit.

She created fake financial statements for self-employed clients, transposing the client's name on to other clients' financial statements.

She created reference letters from fictitious employers, wrote fake Inland Revenue letters and bogus letters from boarders.

She doctored copies of sale and purchase agreements.

 - The Dominion Post