Missing man's bank accounts recently drained by Nigerian scammers

Otago Daily Times

5 hours ago

Fire and Emergency New Zealand personnel and LandSAR volunteers gather at the command centre set up at the base of Sewell Peak to search for missing man Roy Arbon. PHOTO: MEG FULFORD
In a bizarre twist in the so far fruitless search for missing Runanga pensioner Roy Arbon, it has been revealed his bank accounts were recently emptied by Nigerian scammers.
Eighty searchers made an all-out effort on Saturday to find the well-known "Honey Man", 10 days after the 75-year-old left his Runanga pensioner's flat to walk up Mt Davy and Sewell Peak.
The bank scam was revealed during a police briefing for the big search muster and was met with audible sighs.
Mr Arbon has been the frequent target of online criminals, The New Zealand Herald earlier reporting that Nigerian scammers first "got their hooks into him" in about 2013 and his details then appear to have been harvested and on-sold to other scammers as a vulnerable target "to be repeatedly milked".
A 2016 deception resulted in the retired beekeeper being jailed in Western Australia after he was duped into carrying 2.5kg of cocaine from Asia to Perth.
The search on Saturday drew on every available resource to scour the Mt Davy area, described by police as "notoriously difficult terrain".
"Seventy-nine people deployed out into the Mt Davy area where his phone last pinged," search and rescue leader Senior Sergeant Mark Kirkwood, of Greymouth, said.
"Police, Land Search and Rescue, Cave Search and Rescue, Mines Rescue, Alpine Cliff Rescue, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Coastguard, Surf Lifesaving New Zealand and search dogs ... Over the search we have used drones, helicopters, Recco detecting equipment, thermal imaging — any technology that was available to us."
Searchers gathered at the Greymouth Coastguard building on Saturday morning while the sky was still dark, and Snr Sgt Kirkwood warned that the area to be searched was perforated with mineshafts and dissected by creeks and trenches.
"[Mr Mr Arbon's] health was good. He is an Alpine Cliff Rescue member and has been in the bush most of his life, well known to the local community.
"A survivability expert we consulted, who works for the NZDF [Defence Force] said a person would be able to survive, given good conditions, up to 30 days, no problem at all — as long as they had correct gear and shelter. It is not known if [Mr Arbon] had a tent but he certainly had a sleeping bag," Snr Sgt Kirkwood said.
Roy Arbon. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
"There have been no sightings of him since. We have received over 40 phone calls about this incident — some from clairvoyants, some saying they have seen him at the mall in Henderson — all over New Zealand.
... Our mission is to find Roy Arbon."
Mr Arbon was captured by a CCTV camera biking towards the Rewanui incline early on Wednesday, July 23. The bike was later found well concealed near the track entrance.
The alarm was raised about noon the following day, when his neighbour found a written note: "Gone for walk, Mt Davy to Mt Sewell. Back tonight or tomorrow morning."
It was not known at the time the first search was mounted, but the last indication of Mr Arbon was when his cellphone pinged just two hours later, heading south towards Sewell Peak. The area where the phone pinged measures about 600m by 300m, between Mt Davy and Sewell Peak. Since then, the phone has either been switched off or run flat.
Rescuers have since combed every track Mr Arbon could have taken and followed up tip-offs regarding possible campsites, all to no avail.
"Tomorrow, we intend to send in a dog team and searchers to a further area of interest that we have identified, and we continue to assess any new information received that might lead to Roy's location," Snr Sgt Kirkwood said.
Any information regarding Mr Arbon or his whereabouts should be reported by phoning the police on 105.
— Greymouth Star