Marith Khao, 34, was sentenced in Hamilton District Court on Wednesday to 18 months in jail for money laundering, receiving stolen property and using a document for pecuniary advantage across three separate incidents over two years.

In the first case, scammers impersonating ANZ Bank convinced a 77-year-old Christchurch woman to transfer $24,000 into Khao's account by claiming her account had been compromised. The caller, claiming to be "Robert Diego", spent four hours persuading the victim and used her voice as a security override. Khao then distributed the money across his accounts. A third party made withdrawals totalling $21,478.70 the same day.

In the second incident, Khao used a stolen Westpac Mastercard from a 39-year-old man's wallet to make two purchases totalling $295.90. In the third, he received $17,658 from a stolen Sharesies account after one of his associates stole a 43-year-old man's phone; Sharesies recovered $3000 of that amount. Khao also admitted deliberately crashing into a victim's car, causing $3500 damage.

Judge Glen Marshall said Khao's offending was "particularly callous" and showed "little empathy" for victims, RNZ reports.