Cellphone scammers' text con

Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Mobile phone users are being warned about a new Nigerian scam that tells people they have won thousands of dollars and fish for bank details via text message.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has received a number of reports about the text scam, and Vodafone's online customer forum was yesterday inundated with postings from victims.

A spokeswoman for the telecommunications company said it was "looking for a technical solution to the problem" and a warning would be put up on its website.

One of the first worldwide cons was the "Nigerian letter" - or advanced-fee fraud - which emerged in the early 1980s. Unemployed Nigerian students used it to manipulate foreign businessmen interested in shady deals within the country's declining oil sector.

Such scams have since widened to include emails - and now text messages - in other parts of the world.

A typical letter or message tells the recipient he or she has won a large sum of money and asks for a fee deposit so the windfall can be paid out.

An Auckland woman told the Herald last night that she was woken at 2am yesterday by a text message on her Vodafone mobile.

It read: "Congrats you've won $100,000 dollars. Send your email address by SMS text message to this number to enable us to send you an email with details on how to get it."

She said alarm bells rang immediately because it was written informally and sent so early.

She texted back asking, "Who are you?" but did not receive a reply.

The woman discovered the calling code was Nigerian.

"If you're not aware of [the scam], you would be inclined to respond and give your details ... but fortunately I haven't given any of those because Lord only knows what their next response would be."

Ministry of Consumer Affairs spokeswoman Julie Allan urged phone users to ignore the messages.

"Don't respond, never agree to transfer money to anyone else," she said. "It's the old saying but if it seems too good to be true it probably is."

Ms Allan said the only people getting rich were the scammers.

"It's their day job to get money out of people. They send out thousands of text messages and emails every day."

Police spokesman Jon Neilson warned people against responding to messages.

PHONE FRAUD

What you should do if a lottery text lands:

* Delete it immediately. Do NOT respond.
* Report it to Scamwatch (scamwatch.govt.nz).
* Text the message to 7726 (SPAM) at the Department of Internal Affairs.
* Advise your mobile phone provider and/or the police if concerned.