Scams unreported as help sought online

WELLINGTON: Victims of online scams are turning to online communities for help as they are too unsure and embarrassed to go to the police.

Cybersecurity agency Cert NZ’s latest figures show more than 500 reports out of 2333 incidents were related to scam and fraud in the first three months of the year.

Michelle, who manages 16,000member Facebook group Scammer Check NZ, which aims to name and shame scammers, said the problem was far bigger than the officials knew.

‘‘Being on this page has really highlighted for me just how common and how frequent and prevalent scams are, and I think if you put too much emphasis on the police dealing with them, they’d just be inundated.’’

A communitybased approach to hunting down scammers allowed for quick information sharing and transparency.

‘‘The more we can actually publish these scams, get these scams out there into the public arena so that people are aware of them, then hopefully people can start avoiding them.’’

One scam victim, Craig Lim, got half the money back for a camera purchase thanks to the group’s guidance.

He sent $310 to someone who looked reliable from their Facebook profile, but became more sceptical as time went on.

The seller delayed sending the product for a month, using excuses such as the post office being shut due to it being a public holiday and later, her daughter being in hospital.

He was intimidated by the prospect of engaging with officials, and instead went to Scammer Check NZ for advice, Mr Lim said.

It told him to tell the scammer he would file a police report if she did not return the funds, which she promptly did.

‘‘Filing a report was definitely an idea that came across my mind, but I felt it was a very serious risk to take,’’ he said.

‘‘But next time I definitely would file a police report immediately after I’d been scammed,’’ Mr Lim said.

Cert NZ acting manager of incident response Jordan Heersping said underreporting of scams and fraud was a problem for officials.

‘‘We are aware that there is some very consistent underreporting of these. That’s usually due to people not knowing to report, or being too embarrassed to do so.’’

The overall number of cyber incidents reported to Cert NZ has decreased in the past quarter after a significant spike at the end of last year, but the number of scam and fraud reports has remained steady at about 550 over a threemonth period.

Mr Heersping said social media scammers, both offshore and in the country, were getting increasingly savvy.

‘‘They’ll use emotional levers, like fear and urgency; they’ll refer to current events, which often gets a lot of engagement.’’

Christchurch area community services manager Senior Sergeant Roy Appley said people did not help themselves by avoiding reporting incidents.

‘‘We really rely on individuals reporting things to police specifically.’’ — RNZ