Netflix's Tinder Swindler has shed a spotlight on the dangers of scam artists - and it reminded one Kiwi radio host of her own experience.
Coast breakfast radio host Toni Street has revealed on-air she was once swindled out of $15,000.
She shared her experience with a scammer this morning, telling her co-hosts Sam Wallace and Jason Reeves that she was never getting the cash back.
"It's not very nice being taken for a ride and it has happened to me," she said.
Having recently moved house, she and her husband Matt France wanted to repaint and went with a painting company recommended by another mum at their children's school.
"And we thought, you can't go wrong with a recommendation," she said.
"Painting started just as lockdown began so it was delayed - they got a few rooms inside done and they were meant to come back to do the outside."
The painter doing the work was subcontracted to the person who took the bookings, she said.
But then things went quiet.
"We came out of lockdown and they were nowhere to be seen. Communication dried up, we were trying to call this guy off pseudo phones so he wouldn't know it was us," she joked.
"Then we got an email saying, 'You've got me, I've gone bust, I've moved to Welly and I'm going to try to pay you guys back'."
Street said they had paid $15,000 in advance - "because anyone doing painting will know scaffolding is very hard to come by and we had to put a deposit on the scaffolding to secure it".
"Foolishly perhaps on our part, but we thought in these challenging times we needed to do that."
The painter himself had not been paid for the painting he had already done, she said - "He hadn't just bailed on us, he hadn't paid the hardworking painter.
"We paid our painter directly in the end but we were glad the painter who did the job got paid in the end to finish the job.
"We're both still waiting for the money that we're owed."
A friend of Street's who is also a lawyer found that it wasn't the first time the scammer had done this to someone either.
"The scary thing is everyone seems to have a story where this has happened to someone once in their lifetime," Street said.
And this isn't the first time Street has been taken advantage of by scammers. In 2016 Street's image was used in advertisements for a diet pill that had been linked to credit card scams.
The ads, which appeared on Facebook, promote Garcinia cambogia supplements and claimed that the host used the product. A TVNZ spokeswoman at the time confirmed the claims were "utterly false".
According to Consumer Protection, there are some crucial steps you can take if you think you might have been scammed.
1. Stop all contact with the scammer
Once you realise you are being scammed, do not continue the conversation. Hang up the phone. Don't reply to emails or letters scammers have sent you. If you have been scammed online, block the scammer from contacting you.
2. Do not make any more payments
Some scammers target people caught in recent scams, e.g by pretending to be an enforcement agency that can return all of your money for a fee. Don't give money to anyone on the promise they will get your lost money back
3. Contact the bank or service you sent money through
If you are the victim of a financial scam, credit card scam or identity theft, contact your bank immediately. The sooner your bank knows about it the greater the likelihood of getting the money back.
4. Report a scam
Reporting a scam is important, whether for yourself or on behalf of someone else. Reporting puts you in touch with someone who can give advice specific to your situation. It also helps other people avoid similar scams.
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