Former Dancing With The Stars competitor Nerida Cortese has spoken out after nearly falling victim to a sophisticated online scam, warning others to be vigilant as similar fraud attempts continue to rise.
Cortese, who has built a following of more than 564,000 on Instagram through making family dance videos with her two sons, revealed she was contacted by someone posing as a representative for a well-known, unnamed American celebrity involved in acting and podcasting.
The scammer used convincing details, such as official-looking letterheads and social media links to appear legitimate.
“The idea was that my boys and I were going to do a Facebook-live with this celebrity,” Cortese said in a video posted to social media.
“In preparation for this video, we were going to Zoom call and have a chat, just to talk about what questions may be asked so we could lead it in a direction that was really positive.”
But once on the Zoom call, Cortese quickly noticed red flags.
“Firstly, his name was David Green, and as soon as I heard his voice with an accent that didn’t necessarily match the name, I became suspicious,” she told the Herald.
“Secondly, during the Zoom call, he did not show his face, which I questioned and he explained that he hadn’t updated his Zoom application.”
The alarm bells became too hard to ignore when the man asked if Cortese could share her screen to “help find” their appointment together on her Facebook account.
Trusting her instincts, Cortese ended the call before handing over any sensitive information.
She believes the scammer’s goal was to gain access to her social media accounts, which could then be used to defraud others.
“The idea of someone taking over my accounts, blocking me and then using my name to scam thousands of other people fills me with absolute dread,” Cortese said.
Her children were disappointed “as it was a chance for them to share our fun experience as a family on social media” but remained supportive.
Cortese said the near-miss has changed how she approaches online requests and interactions.
“In future, I plan to do more background checks before interacting with something like this.
“I was contacted initially via email, which is very different, as most of my contacts come through social media.”
Cortese urged others to take precautions with the increasing complexity of online scams.
“My main message here is not to share any personal information with people unless you know you can trust them.
“If need be, do background checks, watch for any red flags like strange email addresses, websites etcetera.”
In November 2024, the Herald reported that Kiwis had lost an estimated $2.3 billion to online scams in the 12 months to August 30 that year - up from $2b the year prior - according to the second annual State of Scams in NZ report from Netsafe and the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA).
Meanwhile, Netsafe recorded consumer product and service fraud scams rose 25% in July compared to the previous month.
Both trends signal a growing degree of sophistication in the types of scams and fraud tactics that are being leveraged against Kiwis.
Cortese said sharing her story was just as much about allowing her to move on as it was about warning others.
“Scammers like this do not care who they hurt, they are in it for themselves.
“They are very clever at targeting busy or vulnerable people, who are less likely to question their authenticity.”
Tom Rose is an Auckland-based journalist who covers breaking news, specialising in lifestyle, entertainment and travel. He joined the Herald in 2023.
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