Yeah not a good move

A Christchurch woman has been jailed for two years and four months after swiping over $400k from her employers to pay a Nigerian scammer.

Jacqueline Louise de Berri, 48, who suffers from anxiety and depression, admitted using funds from her employer to make 13 transfers to the Spanish bank accounts of the

Nigerian scammers in the hope of getting millions from the Nigerian’s dead relative’s estate.

Money deposited by de Berri was immediately transferred from the accounts so that it could not be retrieved.

The employer had made a victim impact report to the court saying it felt betrayed by de Berri, who was credit controller for the rental car firm in Christchurch. Staff who worked alongside her also felt let down.

De Berri received a fax at the company offices supposedly from a Spanish solicitor seeking relatives of an engineer who had died, leaving a fortune for family who had to be traced. She convinced herself the man was a cousin, and began transferring money as requested. The police described it as a Nigerian scam.

She had now lost her job, and the home was being sold. Although she could offer no reparations she had apologised to the company and was willing to meet officials at a restorative justice conference.