New Zealanders who fell victim to scammers through the use of Western Union are being urged to claim for compensation.
Scammers targeted victims through Western Union, which admitted to criminal charges last year Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Western Union admitted to criminal violations in January last year, including wilfully failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme.
The company agreed to pay a penalty of $788.8 million which is being used to refund people world-wide who were tricked into paying scammers through its services.
Australia and New Zealand's National Identity and Cyber Support Service chief executive, Richard Lacey said thousands of New Zealanders could have been affected.
He had spoken to a few New Zealanders who had lost more than $200,000, he said.
People have until the end of May to make a claim.
Police said there were significant numbers of New Zealand victims, including one person who lost $80,000.
National High Tech Crime Group Kelly Knight said the window for victims to lodge a claim is closing and if they believe they qualify they should do so as soon as possible.
"Anyone who believes they meet the eligibility criteria can visit the Western Union Remission website and lodge a claim," Mr Knight said.
"Unfortunately there are people in the world who will take advantage of people for their own benefit and the internet has made it easier for these people to contact New Zealanders."
Anyone who was asked to pay money to an unknown person, no matter what the circumstances, should check the details of the request before making any payment, he said.
"Scammers are always looking for new ways to victimise people, their methods evolve over time as well, and [as] the level of sophistication continues to improve, scams are becoming harder to spot."