Warning on bogus email prizes

A misleading email competition is doing the rounds, claiming people can win prizes from New Zealand businesses that have nothing to do with the emails.

The emails, sent by a firm called Freebie Fox, claim people can get deals from companies such as Countdown and Pak’n Save.

Netsafe’s chief executive, Martin Cocker, said it had not received any complaints about the emails recently, but has done so in the past. The internet safety group classified the emails as a scam, and said people should be alert to all sorts of scams, especially when dealing with uninvited contact from people or businesses.

He said a simple Google search would determine whether someone was a real person, and people should keep their personal details secure.

Foodstuffs, which owns Pak’n Save, has received inquiries from customers about the emails. Spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said Foodstuffs was not associated with the emails and that any concerned customers could check the Foodstuffs website for news on the latest scams.

‘‘Our general advice to customers regarding such scams is that if an offer or prize seems to good to be true, then it probably is,’’ Laird said.

Countdown confirmed it was also not associated and had not yet received any complaints about the Freebie Fox emails.

Freebie Fox was reportedly run out of Canada and could send up to 40,000 emails to subscribers in New Zealand every day.

The man behind Freebie Fox, Chris Sturlis, told NZME that the competitions promoted in the emails were run by a third party that had nothing to do with the New Zealand companies that had their products offered up as prizes.

‘‘[My clients] run prize draws that say ‘You could have a chance to win, say, Pak’n Save vouchers,’ because those vouchers would be open on the market for them to purchase for the winner,’’ he said.

There had been some complaints made because the true nature of the relationship was unclear due to a staff member’s error, and that had now been corrected, he said.

Freebie Fox has been contacted for comment.

‘‘She certainly had a full and varied business life as well as her subsequent life involved with the hospice,’’ Peters said.

She was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1990, and in 2003 was named Nelson Mail Nelsonian of the Year.

In 2008, she was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order in the New Year honours for her valuable voluntary service to the community.

Peters said it had been Kennedy’s wish, supported by the family, that there be no service or memorials. She has asked that any recognition or messages go to the Nelson Tasman Hospice.

‘‘For somebody with such a high profile she was a remarkably private person.’’

A post on the Nelson Tasman Hospice Facebook page on Wednesday recognised Kennedy’s contribution. ‘‘Our thoughts are with Elspeth’s family and friends.’’