Police say fraudsters are targeting platforms like Trade me and Facebook Marketplace posing as interested buyers. Photo: 123RF
Beware being hooked by a phishing scam this holiday season, especially if you are selling anything online.
Police are warning that fraudsters are targeting sellers on platforms like Trade Me and Facebook Marketplace - pretending to be interested buyers, before reeling their victims in and convincing them to hand over personal details.
Detective Inspector Stuart Mills from the National Criminal Investigation Group told Checkpoint people who were selling items online had been approached by buyers who were in a hurry and said they would organise a courier themselves.
"These people apply pressure to the sellers wanting their personal details and they achieve this by sending them a fake courier link.
"They manipulate the seller in obtaining their banking and personal details, which allows them to steal money from their bank account."
He said it was one of many phishing type schemes circling currently and it targeted people trying to make ends meet by selling their items.
"It's very difficult at this time of the year, a lot of people are under pressure and so if someone's keen to buy their item, they probably think it's a good opportunity.
"If it's too good to be true or the seller doesn't feel quite right or your gut feels not right, go with it and don't pass your personal details or your banking details at any time. Organisations in banking institutions will never ask for those details in that manner."
The scam asks for the seller's personal and banking details, as well as a 4-to-5-digit code, he said.
"When you receive authorization from the bank, they'll ask for those details as well. You should never give those authorisations or confirmation details to a third person at any time."
He said the phishing scam was likely to be based out of New Zealand, as it was organised crime based in various parts of the world.
"They will just continue to undertake the scam in order to get successes and make money that way, this is not just something that happens in New Zealand, it is worldwide."
A similar scam occurred 12 months ago he said, and the organised crime groups were targeting people during a time where they were under pressure.
"Practise all the advice that the banks and the police and other agencies like Netsafe provide, be very careful around your personal details.
"Check to make sure that the person who is sending you something or contacting you on your cell phone is legitimate, always referred to banks or other institutions through the official websites."
He said it was important that police and Netsafe collected information about the scam and were able to share it with international partners.
"We work with them because they will be dealing with the same sort of scams, so we need to make sure that we are contributing to that and quite often these groups are disrupted."