West Coast man loses $200,000 in email scam

File photo / NZ Herald

A West Coast man has apparently lost everything in a $200,000 scam.

Greymouth police today issued a warning following the incident for people "to be vigilant" after the local man lost $200,000 in an email scam.

Greymouth detective senior sergeant Dan Keno said people needed "to be very wary" of any email or message received from a person or source they did not know.

"Anyone making an offer involving some financial gain for you is probably a scammer. Unfortunately they prey on people's trust and also on greed," Mr Keno said.

"Nobody wins a million dollars in a lottery they didn't enter and the Nigerian Bishop with the fortune he wants to deposit in your account doesn't exist either."

Scammers used email, post, text messages, and social networking and any suspicious communication should be reported to the Department of Internal Affairs.

Mr Keno said a lot of scams looked genuine.

"It can be hard to tell if the information is real so if you're not sure you need to verify the information before acting on it."

It was unlikely local people caught in a scam would get their money back.

- Greymouth Star