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A WOMAN is suing Australia's big four banks for their alleged role in a $200,000 money laundering scam masterminded by her teenage son.

The woman, from the NSW south coast, has launched an action in the Supreme Court seeking damages and wants an apology from the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB for ''unconscionable conduct'' after they allegedly handed her son dozens of bank accounts and debit cards ''without reasonable scrutiny''.

In 2007, the then 14-year-old was selling fictitious products on eBay and, at one stage, earning more than $6000 a day.
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He began living the life of a celebrity, booking penthouses overlooking Sydney Harbour that cost $4300 a night and hiring limousines to take him to the beach.

When his mother stumbled on the scam, she says she repeatedly warned the banks he was a minor sourcing funds illegally. It is alleged they ignored her or refused to discuss the matter for privacy reasons.

''He was an intelligent boy who worked out how to cheat the system and play it for all it was worth,'' said the mother who, along with her son, cannot be named for legal reasons.

''As his parent and legal guardian, I begged the banks to stop giving him accounts and debit cards but each time I got nowhere because of the Privacy Act.''

She said her suspicions were aroused four years ago when her son began spending lavishly. ''I found a log book listing thousands of dollars worth of transactions with eBay customers, all of whom had deposited money into his bank accounts for non-existent laptops, mobile phones and watches,'' she said.

The boy, now 19, had opened the bank accounts with ease once he had secured his first with the Commonwealth Bank by deception. ''He strolled into a branch one day and, armed with a birth certificate and a friend over the age of 18 who claimed to be his guardian, they gave him an account,'' his mother said. ''Once he secured that, he was able to accumulate cheque and Visa debit accounts with many other financial institutions including Westpac, the Bank of Queensland, ANZ, Credit Union Australia and the Hume Building Society.''

Police eventually swooped on the boy in school after many of the frauds were linked to an IP address attached to a classroom computer.

By then, however, the teenager had devised another bank-related scam. His mother said: ''He began placing small amounts of cash on his many debit cards, followed by instant large withdrawals. The flaw in the system is that you can go $1500 overdrawn before they shut down the account. He didn't care. The moment one got closed, it was his cue to open another. It became an addiction.''

In the meantime, the boy lived a playboy lifestyle with shopping sprees in which he would buy Versace and Prada clothes and Louis Vuitton luggage. He flew groups of friends interstate for weekend-long parties in rented luxury apartments and lavished teenage female friends with pampering sessions.

''There I was, a single mum of two, desperately struggling to put food on the table. He, meanwhile, would stroll in after feasting at the latest fancy restaurant of his choice and chuck me leftovers in a plastic tub.''

In her endeavour to seek help for her son and halt his bank card addiction, the mother said she contacted teachers, principals, counsellors, doctors, travel centres, limousine companies, motels, hotels, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the banking ombudsman and MPs. ''But each time, I was told the only people who could end this madness were the banks. To this day, they refuse to acknowledge it was their accounts being used to launder money, and their overdrafts to commit more crime.''

In the past four years, she has reluctantly handed her son to the police 15 times, leading to many spells in juvenile detention centres.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/techno ... z1bdoyJvps

In her endeavour to seek help for her son and halt his bank card addiction, the mother said she contacted teachers, principals, counsellors, doctors, travel centres, limousine companies, motels, hotels, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the banking ombudsman and MPs.

Don't worry, no crime here... it'a another sad case of bank card addiction.

In her endeavour to seek help for her son and halt his bank card addiction, the mother said she contacted teachers, principals, counsellors, doctors, travel centres, limousine companies, motels, hotels, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the banking ombudsman and MPs. ''But each time, I was told the only people who could end this madness were the banks. To this day, they refuse to acknowledge it was their accounts being used to launder money, and their overdrafts to commit more crime.''

In the past four years, she has reluctantly handed her son to the police 15 times, leading to many spells in juvenile detention centres.

''He spent his 18th and 19th birthdays in adult prison due to parole breaches. He was assaulted so badly during one of those spells, I thought he would die in there.''

Underneath the exterior, her son was an ''insecure boy out to impress'', she said.

''Once he'd become 'Mr Popular', his biggest fear was that everyone would desert him if the cash dried up. Today of course most of those so-called friends have disappeared because they were hangers-on. It's destroyed him.''

Unless she finds a lawyer to take on the case pro bono, she will be forced to represent herself when the case returns to court next month.

She has found an ally, though, in NSW Police Senior Constable Dave Henderson who, in 2008, charged her son with almost 20 separate incidents of fraud. In a letter to the Commonwealth Bank in February 2009, Senior Constable Henderson said the boy's mother had ''done all she can to stop him reoffending'', adding he was ''an extreme risk of reoffending with more fraud matters''.

I know, there's a litany of excuses for how parents can't control their kids getting on the internet - or into drugs, or pregnant, or perpetrating violent crimes and thefts, etc.

Again, color me jaded - but after my time in youth court, I've heard every reason in the book for why parents of delinquents can't parent their delinquent children. My suspicion is that most of them just can't be bothered.

'she has reluctantly handed her son to the police 15 times'.

bsg wrote:Color me jaded, but I'd reserve sympathy for her until I'd seen actual proof of the great lengths she went to in intervening on his behalf when he was still a minor.

bsg wrote:but seeking recompensation from the victims just seems over the top to me.

bigskygal wrote:It's like saying the banks wore their skirts too short, so they deserved to get raped.

In the past four years, she has reluctantly handed her son to the police 15 times, leading to many spells in juvenile detention centres.

When a 14-year-old boy takes the banks for a $200,000 ride, what do they have to say? Nothing



Major banks are refusing to say how they can stop minors from applying for debit cards after the revelation that a 14-year-old boy had obtained cards to run a $200,000 money laundering scam.

The Commonwealth Bank and Westpac refused to comment on their security policy, but NAB and ANZ spokesmen both said their policies were conservative and appropriate.

Neither would elaborate how exactly their policies stopped anyone under the age of 18 from applying for a debit card without a guardian.

When he was 14, the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, opened bank accounts with the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB.

In 2007, he made more than $6000 a day on eBay - selling products that did not exist.

After that, he realised that he could overdraw bank accounts by $1500 each if they had a small amount of money in them.

His mother lodged a claim in the Supreme Court for damages, after she repeatedly warned the banks about what her son was doing and they did not act.

She says the banks had made no attempt to recover the money her son took.

Following a Sun-Herald story on the weekend, barrister Charles Sweeney, QC, contacted the woman and said he would represent her.

An experienced banking, consumer and competition law barrister, Mr Sweeney represented victims of the collapse of stockbroking firm Opes Prime.

"It is a relief," the woman said. "I am the underdog here, but I'm not Erin Brockovich and if I continued to represent myself I can see I would have hit a few stumbles along the way."

A search through online application forms for the four major banks shows that NAB, ANZ and Westpac stipulate
that customers have to be 18 to apply for a Visa or Mastercard debit card.

The Commonwealth Bank states anyone over 16 can apply for a debit Mastercard.

But the boy's mother said these protections were not sufficient.

"You can just tick a box and say you are over 18," she said.

"I'm his legal guardian and he should not have had those cards at all. I told the banks and they should have closed the accounts down. There is just not enough scrutiny.

"When I talked to him about it, he told me to mind my own business; he said the banks were on his side."

At the height of his scamming, the boy went on shopping sprees at Versace, Prada and Louis Vuitton and rented luxury apartments.

She said that, when the banks did not listen to her, she approached the police.

The boy has been in and out of juvenile and adult detention centres for the charge of obtaining money by deception.

The boy is now 19 and has just left Silverwater Correctional Facility.

When she takes the banks to court, the woman is seeking damages for loss of income and disruption to her life.
"I've had to move, I've had bricks thrown through my windows. People wonder what kind of a mother would put her kid in jail, but I had no choice."

"He's done it pretty hard, and we missed out on having a normal life."

The woman insists she is not making excuses for her son, and she is not money hungry.

"There just needs to be more scrutiny and banks have to take responsibility."

After her matter is heard in the Supreme Court, the woman hopes she will be able to rebuild the trust of her son.

"He blames me for being the dobber ... I said to him this week that in this time, and with all we've been through, he's never once said sorry.

"Maybe, one day he will."

She said that, when the banks did not listen to her, she approached the police.

After her matter is heard in the Supreme Court, the woman hopes she will be able to rebuild the trust of her son.