Scams and frauds rife as year end nears

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Urban legends have never had it so good.

With just over two weeks to go until we know the truth about what kind of computer chaos 2000 will bring, the Y2K bug is spawning suspect sales pitches and scams.

Take the one about the non-compliant tax receipts.

A man looking for spare parts for his cash register was staggered to be told by an Auckland company that he would be better off buying a new one since his was likely to be useless after January 1.

The alleged problem? The change to 2000 will throw tills into a spin: some will be so confused about the date they will not produce legible receipts; and those that do will be hit by an Inland Revenue Department ruling.

A salesman claimed the IRD had said it would not accept receipts with 00 as a shorthand form of 2000.

Modern electronic tills may well face problems, but non-compliant receipts? The Herald went to the company to check the story out.

"IRD has written us a letter to say if it's not compliant, they will not accept a receipt from a cash register for GST purposes," said the salesman.

"I try to tell people but most people don't listen."

Okay, the Herald asked, where's the letter?

"Um, I haven't got it," said the salesman. Contact head office.

Sorry, said head office, we haven't got the letter, either. Later, they said there might not be one - but there had been some sort of directive.

Next stop was the IRD itself.

Guess what: "00 would be accepted here in the IRD," said spokesman John Saunders. "If it's part of a date format, it should be no problem at all."

Hmm.

Elsewhere, con men have been doing the rounds with a scam both the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Y2K Readiness Commission have warned against.

People claiming to be bank officials have telephoned customers to obtain account details on the pretext that their money will need to be transferred to a secure account over the New Year.

The commission, the ministry and banks say any such approach is nothing more than a fraud. Banks would notify clients about any change of service on letterhead stationery.

Such scams come as no surprise to sceptics and watchdogs around the world who have been on guard for some time.

The United States-based Better Business Bureau issued a brochure warning against opportunists peddling goods such as non-compliant computers or software, or religious memorabilia "guaranteed" to guard against the end of the world.

Another US Website, the Annals of Improbable Research, has collected examples of groups selling Year 2000 gimmicks.

One such product was a soap that manufacturers boasted would "cleanse the human being's 2000 body parts." Huh?