Plan to measure impact of financial fraud
The Commission for Financial Capability has hired anti-fraud campaigner Bronwyn Groot from BNZ to help fight the rising tide of scams.
Groot will develop a programme to lift public awareness of overseas crooks posing as legitimate financial services companies.
The commission is also planning two pieces of research to try to gauge how often people are targeted by fraudsters, and what proportion of us fall for their lies; one, a scientific survey of 1000 people, the other through its website at Sorted.org.nz.
Both will be released in Fraud Awareness Week in November.
The scale of fraudulent activity
The older you are the less time there is for you to recover. Jane Luscombe
faced by households isn’t known, as banks aren’t required to release figures on fraud.
But Groot said many victims don’t report their losses.
‘‘People don’t report for a number of reasons. It’s a shame, they may not know who to report it to, or think ‘What’s the point, nobody’s going to do anything anyway’.’’
Some remained in denial, convinced they were not being scammed for a long time.
Bank phishing scams, where crooks send emails that look like they came from banks, asking people to log in using their online banking details, are increasing in frequency.
People are also falling for online investment scams, which often use Kiwi or Australian telephone salespeople to sell fake shares, or pretend to be offering trading in high-risk binary options, which the Financial Markets Authority warns ordinary investors about.
The commission hired Groot, recognising the threat to people’s retirement savings.
Commission spokeswoman Jane Luscombe said: ‘‘If you fall victim to a fraud or scam near retirement, it can damage your financial wellbeing, and the older you are the less time there is for you to recover.’’