Scam
Last Friday was the end of term two, to the delight of school students all across the district. On this day, I was honoured to be invited to judge the Te Awamutu College house song and haka competition. What a phenomenal display of passion and performance. Kei runga noa atu! Everyone did their house proud and Pounamu house took out the win in the end.
Deb Hann
With school holidays well underway, please remember to be aware of our tamariki, more of whom will be out and about around the community, especially on bikes and scooters. If you are heading away for a break, as always, ensure your vehicle is up to WOF standard, drive defensively and to the conditions. Keep your speed down and allow plenty of time for your journey. Take regular breaks and be patient with others on the roads. Remember to secure your vehicle when parked and keep valuables out of sight. If we remove the attractants and opportunity, we lessen the likelihood of becoming a victim of crime.
This week I sadly have another scam case study to tell. One of our elderly community members recently received a phone call on her landline phone. The caller said she was from the Inland Revenue Department and advised of tax refund. What followed was a relentless campaign. The scammer managed to obtain bank card details while also convincing the victim to withdraw money to purchase “Paysafe” vouchers on multiple occasions over a short space of time. She was told to pass the voucher details to the scammer when they called back each time and so the scam was complete.
A key factor of this scam was the urgency that was impressed upon the victim, including ringing her first thing in the morning and demanding she withdraw money immediately, then calling her a short time later when she got home to obtain voucher details. This resulted in the victim losing a total of $8000. It would have been even worse were it not for the interventions by staff at two different supermarkets, who took action to prevent her from purchasing further vouchers and brought her the realisation that it was a scam.
Please spread the scam awareness and prevention word to family, friends and neighbours. Confirm the validity of any phone or messaging approaches you suspect are suspicious, by contacting the organisation directly on a publicly advertised number (not the one the caller will give you).
If it looks like a scam, sounds like a scam or reads like a scam, it probably is a scam.
Scammers at work. Photo: Mikhail Nilov: pexels.com
