Scammers pose as Auckland Transport staff

Auckland transport cards. Photo / Greg Bowker

Auckland Transport Hop cards have become fodder for scammers, after a Papatoetoe couple handed $20 to fake door-to-door sales representatives.

The council body says the couple were visited on a Sunday in mid-January, asked to fill in a false application form and told two cards would be posted to them.

They phoned its call centre this morning to complain they were still waiting for their cards.

Spokesman Mark Hannan said the police had been alerted and other residents of southern and eastern suburbs should beware of the scammers, in case they were targeting passengers of the Howick and Eastern bus company.

The company was switched over to the $100 million AT Hop ticketing system at the weekend, in a progressive rollout that already covers trains, ferries and most of the city's bus fleets.

Auckland Transport is selling Hop cards at an opening special price of $5 each, but says it has no representatives going door-to-door to collect orders.

Cards can be bought online, from customer service centres and some railway stations, or at authorised retail outlets.

Mr Hannan said the Papatoetoe couple were approached by two men in their early 20s and a teenage woman, who were carrying "a not very professional ID card with an Auckland Transport logo."

He is wants anyone else approached by the group to phone Auckland Transport immediately on 3553553.