ITunes scam

No, you can’t pay your fines with iTunes vouchers, or any other voucher for that matter.

Police have issued a warning over calls purporting to come from government agencies demanding payments for fines, in the form of iTunes or other vouchers.

Detective Senior Sergeant Iain Chapman says the calls look as if they are coming from New Zealand numbers when they’re actually from overseas.

Chapman says police are seeing huge numbers of these calls coming through, with over 900,000 calls coming from one New Zealand number over June and July.

‘‘It’s really important to remember that government agencies will never require or ask you to pay a fine by using an iTunes voucher.

‘‘If you get a call from someone saying you need to pay a fine by iTunes vouchers, police’s advice is just to hang up.’’

He says elderly people in particular were being targeted.

‘‘If you do have family members or relatives who are not technologically savvy, we do ask that you have a chat with them about this so they do not fall victim to this type of scam.’’

If you do have outstanding fines and are concerned, you should find the contact details of the organisation from the phone book or their website and use the generic number listed, Chapman says.