How to spot the red flags of a scam

Last year Kiwis lost almost $200 million to scammers. However, it's believed this figure is the tip of the iceberg, with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and Netsafe figures showing the actual loss could be over $2 billion, as most victims don't report scams to police.

The same report showed two-thirds of Kiwis encounter a scam once a month and 50% have experienced more scams over the past year.

In order to clamp down on scams, banks are calling for a coordinated multi-sector approach with telcos, police, government and social media companies. ASB is at the forefront, working with the New Zealand Banking Association and other banks to improve fraud prevention, including setting up an anti-scam centre, with an initial focus on sharing information faster on suspected mule accounts and progressing a confirmation of payee service, which will match account numbers and names.

In addition, ASB has launched a major campaign to raise awareness of scams and fraud, helping Kiwis identify the risks and giving tips and insights to help keep them safe.

ASB Fraud Expert, Julie Wilton, says anyone can fall for scams as they can be hard to spot if you don’t know what you are looking for.

"Scams are seeded through phone calls, text messages, email, social media, and instant messaging apps. The Global Anti-Scam Alliance and Netsafe report that Gmail and Facebook are the most-used platforms by scammers, followed by Outlook, Instagram and WhatsApp."

Phishing/smishing scams: Phishing is where the scammer claims to be from a legitimate organisation, for example your bank, Inland Revenue, NZ Post or Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. Through deceptive emails (phishing), text messages (smishing) and websites, scammers try and trick you into providing or verifying sensitive information like passwords, credit card details or personal identification, often with a sense of urgency, to use your identity for illegal purposes (see Identity Theft below).

Tips to stay safe: Ignore communications from unknown contacts, always be wary of clicking on weblinks and don't be persuaded into downloading software that allows anyone to remotely access your computer. Contact the company directly through its publicly listed information.

Marketplace scams: Everybody loves a great deal. But once in a lifetime bargains and big discounts may be red flags. The scammer can pose as either a seller or buyer, creating accounts on legitimate auction sites such as eBay or Trademe, or on an online marketplace, like Facebook.

Tips to stay safe: If you're buying, inspect the goods in person, check the seller's reviews, ask for photos with the date next to them and be cautious if the price seems too good to be true. If you're a seller, only use trusted payment methods, don't trust screenshots as proof of payment, check your bank account before sending goods and don't click on any links a buyer sends you to confirm purchase or postage.

Investment scams: Investment scams are difficult to spot as those selling can be very persuasive. Scammers will create fake documents, use logos from well-known companies, and can even go as far as giving you access to view the fake "investments" online.

Tips to stay safe: Be cautious and conduct thorough research before making any investments. Any cold calls you get about investment opportunities are likely to be scams, as it's illegal in New Zealand to sell a financial product through a cold call. Take your time to investigate the company, speak to a licensed financial advisor or professional and check scam warnings on the Financial Markets Authority website before you make any decisions.

Romance scams: Romantics, keep your guard up. Scammers can target you through email, social media, dating websites and apps. A scammer will send fake photos of themselves, usually taken from someone else's social media accounts. They can spend months building up trust and once they have built a 'connection' with you, they will create a need for urgency, asking you to send money for airfares, a sick relative, or a desperate situation due to their funds being frozen, stolen or unavailable.

Tips to stay safe: Never send money, card details, bank details or identity documents like your passport to anyone you don't know or haven't met in person. Hot tip: download a copy of the photo of the person on to your device, go to Google Image search, upload the photo and do a reverse image search, this will show where else the photo has appeared on the internet. This may expose the scammer as using a fake identity.

Identity theft: Scammers seek to collect your personal information to commit fraud. Offline they can go through your mail. The most common ways they do this online is by phishing, hacking into your email or other accounts, using spyware or infecting computer systems with viruses. They look for credit card information, bank accounts, full name and signature, date of birth, address, mother's maiden name, online usernames and passwords, driver's licence and passport numbers. With this information they can access your bank account, attempt to open accounts under your name, apply for loans and more.

Tips to stay safe: Never provide personal information to an unverified source.

Altered invoice scams: These can be tricky to spot, as it can be an invoice or request for payment you were expecting, sent from the correct business. The only difference is the bank account number has been altered, or a follow up email is sent with a request to change the account number.

Tips to stay safe: Call the business that sent the invoice on their publicly listed number to check the invoice is legitimate and the bank account number is correct.

If you think you have fallen victim to any of these scams, stop all contact, avoid sending further payments, change your password and contact your bank immediately. If you're an ASB customer, you can call their 0800 ASB FRAUD (0800 272 372) line 24/7, they are there to help.

For more information, visit ASBs Scam Hub.