Scams news stories - Page 4

In just a three month period this year, New Zealanders reported more than 1000 cybersecurity incidents and financial losses of $6.5 million to CERT NZ.

It’s a common thought that the elderly are most likely to get scammed, but BNZ says it’s also busy parents who are finding themselves on the receiving end too.

New insights from CCL reveal that a significant amount of New Zealanders are still falling for phishing email scams, due in part to impulsive email behaviour.

A report found small businesses are paying a hefty price to scammers; on average losing $38,845 and recovering much less than half.

New Zealanders are being caught out more than ever before – but at the same time there’s a serious effort going on to raise awareness about the issue.

“We’ve received more than 900 reports over the weekend. It looks like the real thing but has some tell-tale mistakes that people can use to tell it’s a scam."

Along with the viral potential of its popular filters, FaceApp has of late, generated a huge wave of media attention amid concerns about online privacy.

"Essentially people are doing this because people are easy to scam when they are anxious, desperate or in trouble."

New Zealanders reported direct financial losses of $1.7 million. While that is still a substantial loss, the figure is a 71% drop from the previous quarter.

Nuisance-call blocking landline gives peace of mind around scam calls and new postpaid mobile plans designed specifically for over-65s.

People aged over 65 are particularly vulnerable, making the most reports and losing more than $330,000 this year. That’s more than 60% of the current losses.

“We’re working with the police and banks to investigate further and anyone who has been left out of pocket will be reimbursed."

Romance scams are popular because they prey on vulnerable people looking for love, and the victims want to believe what they are reading and seeing, which causes them to forget basic protection from scams."

Fake cryptocurrency apps on Google Play have been discovered to be phishing and scamming users out of cryptocurrency, according to a new report from ESET.

The attacker in the email claims they have hacked the intended victim's device, and have recorded the person while watching pornographic content.

" This is an issue that isn’t going away. More needs to be done or we will continue to see large numbers of New Zealanders suffering financial and psychological harm,” says Netsafe CEO Martin Cocker.

Of the 30% of calls that were classified as nuisance or scam calls, trueCall stopped 98% of them.

Exit scam, or just plain bad luck? Investors in one of Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges will be pondering that very question.

There was a staggering rise in criminal activity within the cryptocurrency market last year, despite the decline in the market.

We all love them and our lives are effectively run by them, but research has revealed apps are increasingly growing deceitful with ulterior motives.

In the last month, two e-mail scams surfaced asking taxpayers to fill in a form to receive a refund owed to them.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) recently warned of a sophisticated phone scam, manipulating Australians for a reported $830,000 in November.

“In one case, the attacker gained access and tracked the business’s emails for at least six months. They gathered extensive knowledge of the business’s billing cycles."

Despite the crackdowns, Microsoft warns that these scams persist and target everyone, no matter their age or location.