Banks are warning customers to be mindful of scams that promise easy money, fantastic prizes - or even true love. The warning coincides with Fraud Awareness Week, a Ministry of Consumer Affairs initiative which aims to stop scammers dead in their tracks.
The country's banks have thrown their
weight behind the week-long campaign with Westpac, going so far as to highlight scams that have left their customers out of pocket.
As part of Fraud Awareness Week, Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker has also reminded Kiwis to protect their most valuable commodity - their personal identity.
Barker said there had been several significant developments in the past year to stop Kiwis falling prey to unscrupulous con artists, including the introduction of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 and an anti-spam unit.
Terry Mortensen, head of fraud and security services-risk management at Westpac, said most scams fell into one of two types.
One asked for a small amount to enter a draw or lottery of some kind, and the other involved the promise of a great deal of money.
He highlighted a number of sophisticated scams whereby Westpac customers had been fleeced and said they should serve as a warning to all.
In one case, a customer met a Russian woman through an internet dating site and passed on his account details so a friend of the woman could deposit funds into his account to pay for a New Zealand visa.
A few days later $1000 was stolen from a customer at another bank by the person and paid into the man's account with him then trying to remove the funds to wire to the woman in Russia.
In another case, a Westpac client was sent traveller's cheques by a "friend" she had met on the internet.
She cashed the cheques, paid the money into her account and sent the money to the so-called friend.
However, shortly after the traveller's cheques were dishonoured and the customer was left with a $9800 debt with the bank.
Mortensen said he hoped New Zealanders became so vigilant about such scams that con-artists would no longer target the country.
His advice to people was that there was no such thing as easy money.
