At least $35 million was lost to scams and fraud in New Zealand this year, according to Netsafe.
The online safety organisation said there had been a 90% increase in reports of scams, fraud and online harm this year compared to 2021.
It received 15,384 complaints related to fraud or scams, a 20% increase compared to the previous year. This is in addition to the 28,253 reports relating to disclosure of sensitive personal information, harmful hate speech, privacy breaches and child sexual abuse material.
Netsafe said this year’s complaint numbers were the highest it had seen in its 24-year history.
READ MORE:
* Fraud Awareness Week: Consumers urged to talk about scams, share stories
* Online fraud spikes during Covid-19 lockdown, buyers warned of social media scams
* NetSafe reports ‘drastic’ jump in online fraud losses
Brent Carey, chief executive of Netsafe, said ram raids had been one of the country’s biggest problems this year, but digital ram raids had tallied over tens of millions in damage and were not getting the same attention or funding to combat.
Netsafe’s annual report shows investment scams were the most common scam this year, followed by relationship and trust fraud.
In most cases, a scam artist posed as someone from a bank, utility service or government and conned the victim out of thousands of dollars.
Supplied
Sean Lyons of Netsafe says Scammers are out to make big money at all times of the year, but increasingly looking to catch people out during periods…
