New Zealand based worker Borja Ares lost $330,000 by scammer pretending to be ... trends now
A father has been left shattered after he fell for an elaborate scam and lost $330,000.
New Zealand-based health worker Borja Ares, 37, lost his family's entire life savings and now feels he has failed his wife Alfiya Laxmidhar, 35, and their two children.
The couple, who both work at Whangārei Hospital, sold their house on May 1 and wanted to put the money in a savings account until they were ready to buy another.
After clearing their mortgage they had $330,000 and Mr Ares looked online for investment opportunities.
Borja Ares (pictured left with his wife Alfiya Laxmidhar) feels 'like an idiot' for falling for an elaborate $330,000 scam
He found a site that compared term deposit interest rates and entered his details, setting in train the fraud that would quickly cost the family their entire savings.
The same day he entered the details, Mr Ares was contacted by two men - one calling himself Simon David and another called James Higgins - who competed for his investment.
Mr David said one claimed he was a Citibank investment broker based in Auckland, seemed very sincere and trustworthy, so Mr Ares chose to go with him.
The broker had an educated, softly spoken English accent, but the call seemed to be coming from a 09 Auckland number, so the health worker had no inkling of it being a scam.
Mr David's sales patter - about options being triple-A rated, low risk and backed by Citibank - was so convincing that Mr Ares felt like he was 'on automatic' and 'controlled like a machine'.
'He got me in his net from the first second ... I don't know how he manipulated me to trust him in this way,' he told the New Zealand Herald.
After being sent details of various options, Mr Ares went for a Yorkshire Building Society bond with an interest rate of 13.5 per cent.
He felt his money was safe and was absolutely convinced it was the best thing for him and his family.
A New Zealand-based health worker lost his family's entire life savings and now feels he has failed his wife Alfiya Laxmidhar and their two children. A stock image of a scammer is pictured
Mr Ares did an online search Mr David, who had a legitimate LinkedIn profile saying he was a vice president of corporate banking at Citibank.
His profile has subsequently been removed by LinkedIn.
The Spanish born man, who is waiting to get his New Zealand citizenship,
