Warnings to be aware of cyber crime and dangers of romance scams

A warning to people to be aware of cyber crime, and to protect themselves from romantic scams.

A new documentary looks at the dangers of cyber crime, with estimates Kiwis have lost millions of dollars due to online fraud.

Journalist Patrick Gower says one person he spoke to, named only as ‘Emily’, was hard-working, educated, but still fell victim to a scammer.

She goes on Tinder, swipes right on a guy and they start chatting online. Next minute, he's got a scheme where she can make a lot of money and she starts giving away money to the point that she empties out her revolving mortgage to over $420,000 dollars and has never seen the money again.”

In 2021, New Zealanders lost $12 million in online fraud and scams, but Gower reckons that figure is under-reported.

“We don’t officially know how big it is, but I think most people will have been tried on by a scam at some point.

“If people get scammed, they don’t necessarily go to the police and they might keep it to themselves because they’re ashamed of whakama and they don’t want to talk to anyone about it.”​

It’s not just individuals who are targeted, the Waikato District Health Board was struck by a ransomware attack late last year, with thousands of patient information and health records leaked online.

NFL star Manti Teó recently opened up about his catfishing scandal in a Netflix documentary, where his online girlfriend turned out to be fake. Gower says it’s easy to judge people who are scammed as naive, but says the scammer industry is very sophisticated. 

“The internet kind of just removes this sense of reality, and next minute, they’re giving away a lot of money, particularly if it comes through romance where they’ve given away some of their heart.”