Police share warning after two Oamaru men lose $40,000 in mail scam

Senior Constable Bruce Dow, of Oamaru, with examples of correspondence that has been sent to Oamaru residents as part of a Malaysian-based mail scam. Photo / Daniel Birchfield

Police are warning Waitaki residents not to be taken in by a Malaysian-based postal scam that has left two Oamaru men out of pocket by nearly $40,000.

One man lost a sum believed to be just over $20,000 and another about $19,000 after they were convinced they had won a cash prize of $US200,000.

Senior Constable Bruce Dow, of Oamaru, said envelopes that contained a pamphlet and two scratch cards postmarked from Malaysia were personally addressed to several Oamaru residents.

The enclosed pamphlets claimed to be from travel companies named Air Valencia Travel, True Arts Vacation and Great Akasia Holiday, all based in Kuala Lumpur.

They contained information about the alleged company, including testimonies from other people it claims have won cash prizes.

Dow said while the pamphlets might seem convincing at first glance, there were spelling and grammatical errors that proved otherwise.

In both cases, victims were told they had to pay thousands of dollars so their prize could be released, as was the case with many other scams.

One victim transferred a total of three payments which totalled $18,900 to the scammers after he was assured it was able to be refunded.

After more than two dozen phone calls the second victim made several payments - including one of $10,000 - which totalled more than $20,000, after he too was assured the money could be refunded.

Both victims were asked to supply their driver's licence and passport details, as their identifications had to be proven to claim the prize.

Dow said both men, aged between 60 and 70, were "embarrassed" to be ripped off.

"It's a lot of money to lose. It's sad. These people have been taken in.

"You've been asked to pay money to claim a prize you never actually entered for. That should be a reason to think 'actually, something's not right here ... why am I paying money to claim a prize I never entered in the first place?' That doesn't happen."

Both men were attempting to claim part of their losses back through their respective banks.

Snr Const Dow said as the crime was committed overseas, police could not take any action.

He advised discarding any suspicious mail from overseas.