Kiwis scammed out of $35 million this year as parasitic cyber criminals up their game

Innocent Kiwis lost more than $35 million to online scammers this year as parasitic cyber criminals devise even more cunning ploys to prey on people’s trust and steal their money.

Not-for-profit online watchdog Netsafe has just released its annual report into online harm.

The agency recorded more than 28,000 complaints this year – a 90 per cent jump on 2021 figures, ranging from disclosure of sensitive personal information and harmful hate speech to privacy breaches and child sexual abuse material.

The number of reported frauds or scams jumped 20 per cent to more than 15,000, with New Zealanders losing more than $35m in the last 12 months.

Netsafe CEO Brent Carey said this year’s numbers were the highest Netsafe had seen in its 24-year history.

“More than half the complaints were scams and we didn’t receive any funding for trying to help the victims. Ram raids have been one of the country’s biggest problems this year, but digital ram raids have tallied over tens of millions in damage and they aren’t getting the same attention.

“Our data shows it’s a significant problem that needs addressing. We need funding to be able to start victim remediation work and help people who were scammed financially recover.”

The annual report listed investment scams as the most common, followed closely by relationship and trust fraud. In most…