A niggle of doubt is all that saved a Christchurch funeral director from getting scammed out of $9000.
Dignity With Sincerity Funeral Services owner Cheryl Cowden was emailed by a man claiming to be a fishing boat captain at sea, who needed to repatriate his wife's body to New Zealand after she was killed in a car crash in the UK.
He asked if the company could pay the $9000 needed to transport his wife's body, and he'd pay them back when he got to New Zealand.
The business he claimed to work for and address were both legitimate, but when Cheryl Cowden rang the English funeral directors who were supposed to be holding the body, the lady on the other end said it was a scam.
She then emailed the man back saying she was awaiting instructions from Interpol, and never heard back.
She says she received the same email, a few weeks later, with just the names and places different.