Aaron Bryan, from Whakatu near Hastings, was a victim of identity theft using the Humm platform. Photo / Paul Taylor
Aaron Bryan, from Whakatu near Hastings, was a victim of identity theft using the Humm platform. Photo / Paul Taylor
Hawke’s Bay man Aaron Bryan should have been enjoying his well-deserved holiday, but instead spent most of it battling to clear his name and credit score after becoming the victim of identity theft.
It all started with a series of letters from debt collectors claiming he owed upwards of $500for not paying off purchases from Australian-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Humm.
Humm hasn’t operated in New Zealand since 2022 and Bryan said he knew almost nothing about it, let alone wanted to sign up for it.
“I was just at the park spending some time with the family and thought I’d check the mail. I got a couple of letters addressed to me and thought this looks interesting.
“I opened them up and saw these two notices from Baycorp.
“I checked it out online and did a bit of research and found out [Humm] was a Buy Now Pay Later service and all you had to do was create an account with your name, address, ID and driver’s licence.”
Bryan realised he had an electronic body double - an identity thief who had managed to steal his information and impersonate him in order to open an account.
He still has no idea how his details were sourced, with the fact Humm hasn’t operated for more than a year adding to the mystery. Purchases by the scammer dated all the way back to October 2021.
After ringing Baycorp NZ, Bryan was directed to fill in a variety of forms to prove he was in fact himself, including a statutory declaration and police incident report.
A week on, he is waiting for word back and assumes the company is still reviewing the claim and paperwork.
Bryan isn’t the first to be caught out by identity thieves this way. There are stories of people throughout the country who have received similar notifications.
Wellington man Neill Bryce told Stuff in 2021 it was “too easy” for thieves to use Humm as a springboard for theft after he got hit by a similar scam.
Bryan said Humm’s demise in New Zealand might have been because they “found out how easy it was for scammers to create fake accounts like this”.
“I looked online and saw a few other people had also been hit by this company and similar identity fraud.”
He has since followed all the right advice, freezing his credit info and said he would start notifying other BNPL companies of his fake profile so it could be red-flagged.
Aaron Bryan has had to go through piles of paperwork to help prove his identity after falling victim to a vicious scam. Photo / Paul Taylor
Group chief credit officer at Hummgroup Tim Lord said he was aware the risk of historical fraud was still apparent after the shutdown.
“While shutting down a product mitigates the risk of any future fraudulent activity, we understand that historical cases can occasionally continue to occur.
“We remain committed to assisting and protecting our customers and urge anyone who suspects fraudulent activity has occurred to get in touch immediately.”
Lord said the company verified all customers in accordance with the AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism) legislation and that its full programme had been reviewed and approved by the Department of Internal Affairs.
“All applications must first be assessed by our independent and trusted third party suppliers – which includes identification and address verification – before being scrutinised by Hummgroup’s own fraud management platform.”
Debt collection agency Credit Corp Group, which owns Baycorp, said the best place for fraud victims to start was the conflict resolution process.
“Unfortunately, as phishing scams become more prevalent, there is an increasing risk that a consumer’s identity details can become compromised, leading to the potential of identity theft and fraudulent applications,” a spokesperson told Hawke’s Bay Today in a statement.
“If a consumer feels that there has been a mistake in relation to a debt that is said to be owing for any reason, whether as a result of fraudulent activity or otherwise, as a first step, they should contact the debt collector or creditor to discuss their situation, request particulars of the outstanding debt, and outline any concerns they may have in relation to it.”
The spokesperson also advised people to request a copy of their credit report from the credit reporting agencies, which can help to identify other credit applications that have been made in their name.
Recent statistics from CERT NZ showed that financial losses due to cybercrime were up 66 per cent in New Zealand in the first quarter of 2023.
CERT NZ senior advisor incident response Sam Leggett said the organisation was aware of cases of identity theft related to buy now, pay later services.
“All services or platforms that require official ID such as driver’s licence, or passport to open an account come with risk, so it is important to do your due diligence of the services privacy and data practices.
“If you think your identity has been used to set up a fraudulent buy now, pay later account you should get in touch with the provider directly to file a claim.”
CERT NZ said people could protect themselves by not giving out too much personal information, whether on social media or by email.
They should also put privacy settings on social media accounts and not add too many personal details to online profiles.
Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in late January. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community.
