An elaborate Kiwibank scam almost duped a children’s book author out of all his money.
A children’s book author almost fell victim to an elaborate Kiwibank scam, which uses a phone number hacking trick to call from a seemingly legitimate 0800 number.
Malcolm Clarke, author of Tu meke Tūī!, took to Tiktok to warn others about the scam, which started when he saw unusual activity on his bank account on the weekend.
“I noticed two strange transactions on my account from Wise Auckland,” he said.
The first successful fraudulent transaction was on June 8 for $30.58.
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The second one was on the same day for $214. This was also successful but was still pending in his account.
He used international money transferring site Wise sometimes, but said it definitely wasn’t the same transactions.
To be on the safe side Clarke cancelled the card and reported it with Kiwibank, who said someone from its fraud department was going to get in touch.
He then got a call straight away from a no caller ID number. The caller said they were from the Kiwibank’s fraud department and were going to issue a refund.
But they first needed his access code punched into the keypad, and he would receive a text message with his confirmation number.
“I started to feel a little bit wary, so I said I…
