Scammed Cons and losses on the rise

One woman is on a mission to educate people about scammers and the devastating impact they can have on their lives, writes Cherie Sivignon.

Scammers leave their victims devastated, especially people who fall prey to romance tricksters, according to fraud buster Bronwyn Groot. As fraud education manager at the Commission for Financial Capability, Groot speaks with many victims and says the number of scams and the size of the losses are ‘‘definitely getting worse’’.

One woman she helped recently had been talking with a man for four years, during which time she sent him about $300,000.

When Groot made a reverse image search of a photo the man had sent his victim, it revealed multiple instances where that picture had been used on ‘‘fake dating websites and fake scam profiles’’.

‘‘For her, it was absolutely devastating,’’ Groot said. ‘‘She had been talking to this guy for four years, he was going to supposedly come and live with her, he was going to pay all that money back; it was only ever a loan. So, not only had she lost $300,000 but she also lost the person she loved and had been liaising with.’’

Groot told a Positive Ageing Expo in the Nelson-Tasman region that it had been estimated cyber crime alone was costing the country between $250 million and $400 million a year, which did not include telephone scams and door knockers.

‘‘Every single person that I have spoken to who is a victim of one of these scams is absolutely devastated,’’ she said.

‘‘They’ve lost their confidence, they’ve lost their trust and they’ve also lost their money.’’

There was an audible gasp from the audience when Groot spoke about scammers who had preyed on patients in Auckland hospitals, taking credit or bank cards from bedside cabinets.

‘‘The next thing that happens is you receive a phone call through the hospital phone system,’’ she said. ‘‘They say that they’re the police or a security firm and they ask you if you’ve lost anything out of your bedside cabinet.’’

Of course, the victim had. The scammers claimed to have noticed ‘‘some really dodgy characters on the CCTV’’ and offered to help, saying they could cancel the card; ‘‘just give us your PIN – and you give it out because you’re in there because you’re sick, you’re vulnerable, you’re probably on some wacky medication and you’re not thinking too clearly’’.

Groot suggested people heading into hospital should leave their cards with someone they trusted.

While that hospital scam happened a couple of years ago, ‘‘that’s not to say it’s not going to pop up again’’.

Much like the rerun of another scam doing the rounds involving a scratchie in a glossy travel brochure from Malaysia that arrived in the mailbox with the name and address of a person who lived at the house.

People scratched the ticket to discover they’d ‘‘won’’ second prize of US$175,000. If they followed the instructions, they called a ‘‘travel agent’’ who said ‘‘yes, this is our 50th anniversary promotion, it’s fantastic that you’ve won’’. But the person was told they had to be a travel club member to win the prize ‘‘so that’s just going to cost you US$3000’’.

‘‘Just ship it over and then we’ll send you your US$175,000.’’

Demands followed for further costs such as lawyers’ fees and non-resident withholding tax.

‘‘These stories go on and on and on until you stop sending money,’’ Groot said. ‘‘Sadly, I have one person who actually lost $1 million to this scam. He was not stupid, he was just vulnerable at the time; he was an isolated farmer, he had a wife with Alzheimer’s.’’

Police in 2016 intercepted thousands of such letters and the scam ‘‘stopped straight away’’. However, it had now started again.

Another scam involved people claiming to be from Spark who said there was a problem with the internet, asking if lights were flashing on the router.

‘‘You say no, they’re all static,’’ Groot said. ‘‘They say; ‘You have big problem on your computer, I need to you stay on the line, do not hang up. If you hang up, you will ruin this and all of your neighbours’ internet will be shut down’.

‘‘It turns into a real bullying tactic with these guys. I know of people they’ve kept on the line for over eight hours.’’

The scammers bullied people into drawing out money from the bank, buying iTunes and other vouchers and then scratching them to read out the details

‘‘That’s how they get their funds.’’

Groot said when she started in fraud education work seven years ago, she was shocked that some people lost $25,000. Now there could be losses of more than $2m.

Older people were regular victims.

Groot said she believed that was because older people tended to be home more often to answer the calls.

Intended victims needed to put aside qualms about being impolite. ‘‘Don’t feel bad about hanging up the phone or deleting that email.’’ If people did not feel comfortable about simply hanging up the phone to cold callers, Groot suggested they stick to a script.

‘‘Say: ‘I’m sorry, I’m busy. Give me your name and number and I will call you back later,’’ she said.

‘‘The best thing you can do is not engage at the forefront because no matter if it’s a telephone scam, a Spark scam or a Malaysian travel scam ... as soon as you engage with these guys, you are opening the door.’’

Phishing scams, where crooks posed as a legitimate institution, were tipped to escalate over the next few years. They often came as emails and included links to websites that looked like a bank or IRD site.

‘‘If you click on the link, it will take you somewhere nasty or potentially, you’ll get some nasty malware on your computer.’’

Many people said they would never be the victim of a scam.

‘‘At some point in time – there are so many scammers, so many things that are changing – you will be targeted.’’

‘‘Every single person that I have spoken to who is a victim of one of these scams is absolutely devastated.’’

Bronwyn Groot - fraud education manager at the Commission for Financial Capability