There has been much exposure in the press about scams.
Unfortunately, many people are still being victimised by some very convincing scams and losing money they have worked and saved hard for.
The scammers spend a great deal of time preparing their scams and they are designed to catch you off guard or target vulnerable people often pressuring you into making quick decisions to pay money to avoid consequences from a government department.
For example, we hear of people being contacted by the IRD being advised they owe money and have to pay instantly - this is designed to panic you into rushing a payment.
A common scam is to ask you to purchase iTunes cards and call back with the serial numbers on the cards to make that payment.
Don’t use any number or e-mail address given to you by the person calling.
They do not use I-Tunes cards or any other type of pre-payment card to settle money owed.
If you are advised of a lottery win and asked for money to release your winnings then you need to ask yourself if you ever entered a lottery and why they would need an admin fee.
If it’s too good to be true then it’s probably not true.
A more common scam we see in Dannevirke is reports of online purchases that don’t arrive.
It’s difficult to do any due diligence on someone selling goods on social media platforms and there are many genuine trades happening every day.
Consider looking for feedback on the seller to check if they are genuine and look out for situations where the trade becomes complicated.
For example, being asked to deposit payment into different accounts or being rushed to pay deposits instantly to secure items because others are interested.
Better to lose out on an item than lose money to a scammer.
The ways of being scammed appear endless but if you receive any communication that you think might be a scam then do nothing with the communication and come to the police station and we will assist and advise.
