Detective Senior Sergeant Zane Smith wants people clued up on what is a scam. Photo / File
Detective Senior Sergeant Zane Smith wants people clued up on what is a scam. Photo / File
Online scams target even the police and everyone should be aware of how not to become a victim, says a Rotorua detective.
This week is Fraud Awareness Week and head of CIB at Rotorua police Detective Senior Sergeant Zane Smith said that, while there were lots more attempts at scamming,there were ways to tell if something was suspicious.
Mr Smith said if people had received emails purporting to be from a bank or government department such as Inland Revenue, they should check the email address before accepting it was genuine.
"If you get an email saying it's from [a bank] and you hit reply and it says something else, then that is not right," he said. "You can check domain names through Google." He said people should never click though links claiming to be internet banking nor give out personal details, such as date of birth and PIN number to cold callers.
Mr Smith said Fraud Awareness Week was also an opportunity for people to make themselves aware of other scams, such as those claiming to be trying to get large sums of money out of countries such as Nigeria, and employment scams where people have to pay a little to gain a larger reward.
"We've had several complaints of people paying large amounts of money over for a variety of scams," Mr Smith said.
"It all comes back to if it sounds too good to be true, that it probably is."
He said that recently a relative of his had received a text saying he was in the draw for $2 million if he first paid a small amount, and he had received emails purporting to be from a bank he did not bank with.
"If anyone has any doubts then they can visit the Department of Internal Affairs to get sources of information on what scams have been reported."
Microsoft New Zealand and NetSafe are also warning people this week to be alert to a new wave of cold-calling "technicians" targeting computer users with phone calls about viruses on their computers.
Last month, five people contacted NetSafe after they believed the callers to be genuine and paid money to get their computer "fixed".
