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People looking for financial advice are being targeted by a sophisticated scam.
Cert NZ is warning of a sophisticated scam which has conned New Zealanders out of millions of dollars in the last two weeks.
The Government cyber-security agency said the scam used Google Ads to target potential investors looking for financial advice.
People searching for terms such as “term deposit comparison nz” are shown an advertisement from a malicious site which claims to offer advice on investments.
Instead, scammers use the site to harvest personal details.
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The scammers then call the targets claiming to be from the investment team at a New Zealand financial institution, and send a fake investment prospectus.
Juan Zarama Perini
A new scam has already costs Kiwis millions in two weeks, Cert NZ’s incident response manager tell you how to avoid becoming a victim.
The target is followed up with numerous phone calls and emails with fake contracts and instructions on how to send money.
Cert NZ manager of threat and incident response Jordan Heersping said the scammers were using sophisticated social engineering tactics alongside some convincing fakes.
“Some individuals have also been given a fake investment portfolio website to check their investments,” he said.
“These fake sites even require a login before showing a balance specific to the target, giving people a false sense of security and potentially sending more money to the scammers.”
None of the websites or email addresses used by the scammers are official sites of the banks.
“If you believe you may have been caught up in this scam then immediately contact your bank,” Heersping said.
“Use their official phone number or website. The banks are aware of this scam and their fraud teams are on alert to help you, but the sooner you act the better.
“If you have seen or interacted with these malicious sites, report them to Cert NZ so that we can work to get them taken down.”
Investors should always check directly with their bank before investing and double-check that offers were real, he said.
JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff
Cert NZ manager of threat and incident response, Jordan Heersping, says the scam has conned New Zealanders out of millions in the last two weeks.
Due diligence was important and checking the Financial Markets Authority page on choosing an adviser is a useful start.
Experts have previously warned people to be wary of clicking on the four websites advertised at the top of Google’s search field as anyone can pay for prime position and links may not be legitimate.
Websites which appeared below the first four advertisements were more likely to be legitimate because their ranking was based on relevance and popularity.
New Zealanders lost more than $35 million to scams and fraud last year, according to Netsafe.
The online safety organisation said there had been a 90% increase in reports of scams, fraud and online harm compared to 2021.
It received 15,384 complaints related to fraud or scams, a 20% increase compared to the previous year.
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