Kade Springer. Photo: Rob Kidd A Dunedin man became a ‘‘money mule’’, attempting to launder more than $50,000 for an international fraud ring, after one online message. Kade Mitchell Springer, 21, received a communication from a stranger on Snapchat asking if he wanted to make some money. Yesterday, two years later, he stood in the dock at the Dunedin District Court after pleading guilty to a charge of money laundering. Court documents described a ‘‘BNZ telephone scam’’, which involved customers of the bank being cold-called by someone purporting to be a staff member. The victims were advised their credit card had been used to make unauthorised payments for accommodation in Australia. To cease the flow of money from their accounts, they were asked to supply their nine-digit access number. Once the hacker had that vital detail, it enabled them to access the victim’s account and withdraw funds at will. The problem was, they could not directly transfer the money overseas. For that, they needed a third party. Enter Springer. His foreign source sent him screenshots on what to do and even prompted him to recruit a friend, who was also referred to the fraudsters. On July 23, 2024, $22,500 was transferred into Springer’s personal account from one of the victims. Two days earlier, the defendant had opened a Wise money account and, under instructions from his handler, immediately sent the sum to a ‘‘Mauro Borges Da Silva’’, based in France. The funds were then transferred to a multi-national cryptocurrency trading platform. Springer’s Wise account was deactivated the same day but less than a month later he took on the role of money mule again. On August 20, he opened a Southland Building Society account. Within a week, $11,000 was transferred. This time, Springer tried to send $10,000 to ‘‘Aday Sanche Barrerio’’, in the UK, but the transaction was cancelled. However, that was not before the defendant used his bank card to withdraw $1000 from an Invercargill ATM. A third instance occurred in November that year when $23,900 appeared in Springer’s account. However, the scam was again thwarted when he tried to spend it on a cryptocurrency website. The court heard none of the bank customers were left out of pocket, only BNZ, which refunded the first victim $22,500. While Springer’s case was unusual, court documents noted the targeting of young people by these international criminal syndicates was growing. In 2024, there was a 20% increase in money-mule accounts being opened by 17-24 year olds. Counsel Josh Lucas stressed Springer had no previous convictions and had not benefited financially from his involvement. He argued for a sentence of community work for his unemployed client ‘‘to get him off the couch and into some routine’’. But Judge Hermann Retzlaff said the crime was too serious for that outcome. He also acknowledged the defendant’s neurodevelopmental issues, which led to the conclusion he posed a low risk of reoffending. Springer was sentenced to six months’ community detention and ordered to repay $10,000 to BNZ.
