Seu Fong Au charged with scamming elderly woman

A southwest Sydney pensioner was allegedly involved in a scheme that tricked a 93-year-old woman with dementia out of thousands of dollars in an ATM bank card scam, a court has heard.

Seu Fong Au outside Manly Local Court. Picture: Manly Daily

A southwest Sydney pensioner who allegedly participated in a scam to convince a 93-year-old woman with dementia to hand over her ATM card so her bank account could be milked of cash will defend some of the charges against him.

A magistrate at Manly Local Court heard Seu Fong Au, 63, was allegedly involved in the ripoff that allowed him to get hold of the Mosman woman’s NAB bank card.

The court previously heard that the woman was tricked into handing over her card by a person posing as a bank manager from NAB.

The woman was told, during a series of telephone calls, that funds needed to be withdrawn from her account to “assist in fraud investigations”, the court has heard.

Seu Fong Au, 63, of St John's Park, outside Manly Local Court at a previous appearance on June 1. Picture: Manly Daily

Au, a pensioner from St Johns Park, near Fairfield, has pleaded guilty to one count of possessing identification information to commit an indictable offence.

On Thursday his Legal Aid lawyer confirmed that he will plead not guilty to two counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

The solicitor said representations to police in relation to these charges were unsuccessful and would now be defended in court.

The court had previously been told police had been making further inquiries into possible alleged accomplices.

In a police fact sheet previously tendered to the court, police stated the elderly complainant had been repeatedly contacted by a man posing as a NAB bank manager.

Seu Fong Au outside Manly Local Court on July 13. Picture: Manly Daily

She then allegedly handed over her card to a person on February 14 this year.

On February 16, $1000 was withdrawn from her account via an ATM at Parramatta.

Then on February 17, two more withdrawals — $1000 and $2000 — were made at Parramatta using her card, according to the fact sheet.

At 11am on February 20, the complainant was again allegedly contacted by a person who claimed he was a bank manager.

The man told her that a person would go to her home later that day to pick up another bank card and swap it for another NAB card.

Police arrested Au, outside the woman’s home, at 12.50pm the same day, according to the facts sheet.

Magistrate Margaret McGlynn adjourned the matters for hearing in Manly Local Court on April 8 next year.