Man’s shock as thousands withdrawn by company he wasn't a customer of

Sunday, 10 May 2026

Solving stuff is where we investigate reader complaints and push for answers. You can read more about the project here, and submit your story for consideration at the end of the article.

In this instalment: A small business owner had a lump sum of $7650 taken from his bank account by Z Energy despite not being a customer. The man rang his bank and was initially told he’d authorised the direct debit. Natalie Akoorie reports.****

The problem

When Jaron Phillips got a text alert from his bank warning his account had gone into overdraft, he was unprepared for the shock that followed.

“I remember being at a cafe and I got this push notification from the bank saying you’re in overdraft and I was like, ‘what?’.”

It was December 16 last year and the self-employed Auckland man knew he had at least $5000 in his small business account.

“And then I log in. It’s Z Energy and they’ve debited $7650.53. And so I ring ASB and they’re like ‘Well you authorised it’, and I said ‘No I didn’t’.”

The account was almost $2500 in overdraft.

Phillips said he told ASB he did not consent to a direct debit by Z Energy and that he wasn’t even a customer of the fuel company and had never given it his bank account details.

ASB investigated and found Z had set up the direct debit, Phillips said. The bank reversed the transaction later that same day.

Phillips said ASB told him Z Energy was approved as a “preferred initiator” with the bank.

ASB told Stuff a preferred initiator didn’t have to provide an authority form signed by the customer before taking a payment.

Phillips said ASB told him an earlier attempt to take money from his account the week before declined due to insufficient funds.

What went wrong

Phillips contacted Z Energy and alerted the company to the situation.

A customer service representative confirmed in an email dated December 18 that Z was looking into the case in an effort to confirm whether someone had fraudulently used Phillips’ bank account number in a Z Business account application.

In another email the next day, seen by Stuff, Phillips was told his name and organisation were not used on the application.

Phillips wrote back asking what checks were undertaken to verify the applicant owned the bank account used for the application.

“I am concerned this could happen again,” he wrote, and asked what changes were being made to prevent that.

Phillips said Z told him it had conducted a credit check during the application, and posted a fuel card to the applicant.

He asked if he was the subject of the credit check and what address the fuel card was posted to “because I never received one”.

On January 10, Z wrote back to Phillips and said it was “enquiring with a third party around confirmation of payee details as a way to verify bank accounts used in the application process”.

What we did

Phillips approached Solving stuff after he saw this story about a Z Business fuel card fraud that left a customer almost $15,000 out-of-pocket.

He said he remained uncertain about how the applicant was able to use his bank account number.

Phillips made a complaint to police this week and received a call the next day, the same day Stuff made enquiries with Z, ASB, police and the Banking Ombudsman.

We asked Z more than a dozen questions, including what checks and balances were in place to verify bank account numbers provided for direct debits in fuel card applications.

In a statement, a Z spokesperson said it took every report seriously.

“In this case, we completed an investigation, closed the account and Z did not receive any funds, they remained with the account holder and/or their bank.”

The spokesman confirmed the account was not in Phillips’ name and said the debited amount never made it to Z because it was “dishonoured” when ASB reversed the transaction.

“While we don’t go into detail about our investigations or internal controls for security reasons, we continually strengthen our processes based on experience and feedback.

“We want to reassure customers that any suspected fraudulent use of Z Business fuel cards is treated seriously.”

Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said a direct debit gave an individual or company permission to take funds directly from a customer’s account.

“To set up a direct debit, a customer normally completes a direct debit authority with the company, which then tells the bank the customer has given authority for payments to be made this way.”

Sladden said companies approved to take funds directly from customers’ bank accounts fell into different categories.

“Some are approved as preferred initiators. These companies don’t have to send a signed authority form to the bank before taking a payment.

“Instead, the direct debit authority is electronically loaded to the customer’s bank account by the bank’s system when the first payment is requested.”

She said being a preferred initiator did not remove the requirement for customer authority.

“A business should only take money from a customer’s account if the customer has given permission for it to do so.

“The difference relates to how the authority is processed, not whether authority is required.”

ASB Corporate Banking executive general manager Jonathan Oram said larger, established organisations such as electricity and gas companies, councils and phone and broadband companies could qualify as preferred direct debit initiators.

“This status is granted following an assessment of the organisation and allows them to set up direct debits directly with customers, without the bank sighting each individual authorisation.

“In these cases, it is the initiator’s responsibility to ensure they have a valid authorisation from the customer before any money is deducted.”

Oram said if a customer disputed a direct debit, the transaction could be reversed, and the initiator might be required to provide evidence of authorisation.

Payments New Zealand general manager of clearing systems Jamie Wood said 14 million direct debits were made every month.

He said there were only a handful of complaints every year involving unauthorised debits.

“What can happen is either fraudulently or by accident the wrong account number is loaded, so the account that’s debited is not the same account as the customer.”

So have we solved it?

Phillips was pleased with the prompt police response, after they called him less than 24 hours after he filed a complaint, which he believed was a result of Stuff’s enquiries.

He was also relieved to have confirmation from Z that it wasn’t a case of stolen identity.

However, he still didn’t know if it was fraud or an honest mistake.

He also never received an apology from Z and said he felt its responses could have been more transparent.

The New Standard: If it’s unfair to you, it’s fair game for us.

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