Police are warning people to be vigilant about scam calls following a rise in complaints which have seen some victims losing tens of thousands of dollars.
Photo: 123RF
An investigation named Operation Hyattsville is looking into more than 20 complaints from victims who have lost money in the past couple of months to scammers operating overseas, according to detective sergeant Kelly Corby from the Auckland City Financial Crime Unit.
One victim, 80-year-old Aucklander Marion, had $10,000 taken from her account after a caller convinced her that there was an urgent issue with her Spark account and they needed to access her computer remotely to fix the issue.
She was asked to download the TeamViewer application which allowed them to access her computer before asking for her banking details.
Fortunately, Marion's bank got in touch after noticing suspicious activity and the money was able to be recovered.
Corby said in most instances victims were not as lucky as Marion, with several million dollars in total lost by New Zealanders to offshore scammers in the past few months alone.
"We are not talking about small amounts of money. On average, each victim has lost around $30,000 and these losses are absolutely devastating for our victims," she said.
"Phone scams are nothing new, however we are concerned after seeing a growing trend of cases recently where victims have been conned over the phone. If you think you are a victim of a phone scam, you need to act fast and notify your bank immediately."
Corby said once the money had been transferred overseas it was extremely difficult to recover.
Police are reminding people that they should never give banking details over the phone to a stranger, no matter which company they claim to be calling from - even if they say they're from your bank or phone provider - and not to allow remote access to computers.
"If you are worried you have given your details to a person who may have been a scammer - notify your bank immediately. If you receive a suspicious call from your bank or phone provider, hang up and ring the company back on their publicly listed number - not the number they have called you on - and alert them to the call you have just received," Corby said.
Police believe there are people in New Zealand who are acting as money mules for the offshore scammers because the money is placed into accounts here before being transferred overseas.
"If someone asks you to use your account to deposit money, then asks to withdraw it, there is a strong likelihood that the money is from a scam and you risk being charged with money laundering," Corby said.
A similar investigation by the Auckland Financial Crime Unit last year, Operation Deadwood, resulted in 18 people being charged with money laundering offences after hundreds of phone scam victims lost more than $2.5 million.