Kaitlin Groom almost lost her life savings to a scammer.
Photo / Supplied
Kaitlin Groom almost lost her life savings to a scammer.
Photo / Supplied
A bride-to-be lost her life savings - throwing her wedding into jeopardy - after being duped by a scammer posing as a bank fraud detector.
Kaitlin Groom’s personal savings vanished as well as money from a spending account, her three children’s accounts and her fiance’s holiday pay.
“We lost thousands,” the 32-year-old told the Herald on Sunday. “It’s been a rough ride. How will we pay our mortgage and put food on the table? It’s scary when you can’t feed your children, or you don’t have enough petrol to take them to the doctors if they get sick.”
Groom, an early childhood teacher, feared she would have to postpone her wedding and cancel plans for a family holiday.
But, after Herald on Sunday inquiries, Kiwibank’s fraud team managed to retrieve most of the missing money, which had been deposited into another account at the same bank.
Experts warn summer is a peak time for scammers who are increasingly employing sophisticated tricks to catch people out. Government cybersecurity agency Cert NZ recorded a huge jump in online fraud, with scammers taking nearly $9 million from unsuspecting victims in the third quarter of last year.
Kaitlin Groom, who is getting married in December, almost lost her life savings to a scammer who posed as a Kiwibank employee.
Groom fell victim while she and her fiance were watching a band at the Kaiaua pub. She received a call from a woman claiming to be from Kiwibank and querying some items purchased from Noel Leeming.
When Groom said she knew nothing of those purchases, the “bank fraud investigator” promised to block the transactions and stop the money from disappearing. Groom gave her details - and an hour later she received an authentic call from Kiwibank informing her she had been scammed and a “large chunk” of money had gone.
“She sounded legit - I have no idea how she had my name, phone number and that I banked with Kiwibank,” Groom said.
Groom and her partner’s wedding plans were initially scuppered by the scammer and all their accounts were frozen. They had to rely on their families for food and financial support and Groom’s fiance cut his holiday short to go back to work.
Police are now investigating the case and Groom wants to warn others not to fall victim in the same way.
Police and Kiwbank say the first 24 hours after a scam are crucial - and that the quicker a fraud is detected the more likely it is the money can be recovered.
A Kiwibank spokeswoman said Groom’s scam was known as an unsolicited phone call - but she warned they were seeing a rise in other scams involving stories such as inheritance, investment, lottery, jobs and romance.
The last Cert NZ quarterly report found a 32 per cent increase in scams and frauds, she said.
“At Kiwibank over the past week we’ve seen an increase in scammers calling from either fake mobile or private numbers saying they are from our fraud team. Kiwibank monitors for this kind of scam and has several detections to catch this kind of activity. Often we are able to alert the customer before they realise a fraud has taken place.
“Authentication texts for internet banking include a warning to customers not to share the code with anyone even bank staff. Unfortunately, scammers will use pressure tactics and statements to convince customers to share information they shouldn’t,” she said.
Groom is relieved life is back on track and she will get to walk down the aisle in December.
“I am so grateful I can pay my bills tomorrow night and we can now relax and have a little bit of a holiday. I will never answer the phone again from any private number. I am happy everything has worked out. It’s a huge relief.”
She thanked locals from Tuakau who provided her family with groceries and she has repaid family members who helped her out financially.
“I have given back to everyone who lent us money even though they don’t want it back, but I thought someone else might need it. I told my partner when times get hard, the most important thing is you always have to help others.”
