This comes only a day after it was revealed that Russian scammers have created many fake NZ Herald websites selling iPhones for $1.
A spelling mistake gives away the scammer's ruse. Photo / File
The clone websites were also designed to capture users' personal financial details.
This matter was reported to international IT security agency FraudWatch, which then proceeded to take down fake websites, articles and online profiles.
Last week, NZ Police and ANZ told media there has been a big increase in scamming in the past year, with global scam artists seeing New Zealand as an easy target.
ANZ's Natasha McFlinn, a senior fraud manager at the bank, said she believed the problem is only going to continue to grow.
McFlinn said banks and other corporates had tightened their security in recent years to shore up their defences against fraudsters.
The scammers are now turning their attention to consumers, who don't have as well-established defences.
"It is really hard to get into their systems and for fraudsters to do unauthorised things. So they are starting to move more and more into just attacking customers directly because tricking somebody into making a payment is a lot easier and it is harder to detect."
This issue is particularly pronounced when scammers know that consumers are likely to be looking for online deals.
With Black Friday, Christmas and Boxing Day, the next month will certainly serve up a few legitimate deals - but also the odd scam.
What to do if you have been scammed
• Contact your bank as soon as possible. • Report it to the police and, if it is an online scam, report it to Netsafe who will give advice on what to do. • Hang up on cold callers trying to sell you investment products.
