Kaitlin Groom’s personal savings vanished as well as money from a spending account, her three children’s accounts and her fiance’s holiday pay.
“We lost thousands,” the 32-year-old told the Herald on Sunday. “It’s been a rough ride. How will we pay our mortgage and put food on the table? It’s scary when you can’t feed your children, or you don’t have enough petrol to take them to the doctors if they get sick.”
Groom, an early childhood teacher, feared she would have to postpone her wedding and cancel plans for a family holiday.
But, after Herald on Sunday inquiries, Kiwibank’s fraud team managed to retrieve most of the missing money, which had been deposited into another account at the same bank.
Experts warn summer is a peak time for scammers who are increasingly employing sophisticated tricks to catch people out.
Government cybersecurity agency Cert NZ recorded a huge jump in online fraud, with scammers taking nearly $9 million from unsuspecting victims in the third quarter of last year.
Groom fell victim while she and her fiance were watching a band at the Kaiaua pub. She received a call from a woman claiming to be from Kiwibank and querying some items purchased from Noel Leeming.
When Groom said she knew nothing of those purchases, the “bank fraud investigator” promised to block the…
