Services › Anti-Spam › Phone Scams
The following phone scams were reported to the Anti-Spam Compliance Unit. Links to scam web pages have been removed and spaces have been added to email addresses to ensure they do not become hyperlinks.
- Archived Phone Scams
- Other Reported Scams
Latest Phone Scams - May 2012
The Anti-Spam team have seen examples of this email:
If you receive a phone call on your mobile from any person, saying that he or she is a company engineer, or telling that they're checking your mobile line, and you have to press #90 or #09 or any other number, end this call immediately without pressing any numbers.
There is a fraud company using a device that once you press #90 or #09 they can access your 'SIM' card and make calls at your expense.
Scammers cannot get access to your phone account by you pushing #90 or #09. They can if you are in the US. This is a media release relating to this from Telecom in 1998
If you do receive a call like this, simply hang up on them. They are a scammer and do not deserve your courtesy. You could also email your experience to scam@antispam.govt.nz
Good afternoon, I have just received a call from an overseas person claiming to be from a company who is responsible for technical hardware support for all of the major brand PC manufactures. He had an asian accent and I decided to lead him along to see what information I could get out of him. After keeping him on the phone for a good part of 30 mins, playing dumb and going through the Windows logs to show me there are errors, he advised me to go to www qpcs123 com and gave me an 'Invitation code' of 6545. At this point I decided to break the bad news to him that I knew he was not from any technical support team at which point he hung up the phone.
I would have liked to have kept him on the phone for a bit longer and then tell him what i thought of him, however this was not to be.
The Department has been contacted by epay New Zealand Limited advising: There is an individual calling up our stores posing to be an epay employee. His pitch is that he says he is aware that the retailer is “having problems” with their UKash vouchers and that he needs them to print out a $350 voucher. He says that it needs to be a high denomination so he can see it come through on his system. He then proceeds to ask for the PIN to verify the transaction. On one occasion he gave his name as being Michael Taylor said he was based in Wellington and gave our Head Office number as a contact number. He is using some sort of VOIP service that allows him to have an epay phone number display on the retailers caller ID.
epay NZ Ltd are putting out a press release which will state the following:
We have been notified of fraudulent activity and wish to provide you with this important announcement.
There are some people trying to fraudulently obtain voucher PINs over the phone or in store by posing as either an epay representative, Network Provider or Retailer Head Office employee - PLEASE BEWARE that NO-ONE from epay, any Network Provider or your Head Office will ever call you or enter your store to request that you print out a voucher and then read the PIN detail back to them without payment first.
You should NEVER print out a voucher or load/activate a swipe card that you have not received money for. Payment should always be processed before you print or activate anything through the epay terminal.
Hi, I just received a phone call from a guy called “Victor” with an Indian accent, from some computer company. He said that he was calling because my computer had been reported as being compromised by some virus and asked if I could log onto my computer so he could show me the extent of the infection. I told him I did not have a computer and he asked me why I was lying to him.
The time of the call was approximately 5:55pm on Wednesday 2nd May.
I was rung somewhere between 6.00-6.30pm and spoke to someone with a foreign accent posing as a person from Childfund. They told me it would be just under $10 a week to sponser this child called Dino from Sri Lanka. I found it very hard to say no as they were very persistant. They then asked for my debit card details and when I said no they then asked for my bank account details, and unfortunately I gave it to them. I changed a couple of the numbers because I was wondering if it maybe was a scam. They told me Head Office would ring me in a few days to confirm my details and assure me it wasn't a scam.
When I told my mum what I had done she rang Childfund and asked them whether they had a campaign going in Sri Lanka. They didn't have one at the moment and had never heard of a child called Dino. Mum gave them an ID number and it didn't mean anything either.
Mum rang the police to inform them of the scam and they told me to come on to this website. I have contacted my bank also.
Hi there
I just received a call from a man called Tony who said he was from PC Online in Melbourne. He gave me his phone number as 1-800 973 665. He said that they had received error messages from my IP address. That we would have noticed some error messages having come up on our PC that we must have clicked "Send error message" about.
Hello,
I'm from Christchurch and I would like to tell you about my recent laneline phone scam. About 9.30 am I got a call on our laneline phone. Asian accent man called his name is Luke Johnson and he was calling from Department of Internal Affairs. He told me that he works in Asian minority and he is a case manager of our family. Moreover, he was aware of all our family member names, date of birth, home address, cellphone numbers and even our bank account number. In addition, he was known about how we came New Zealand and when did we arrive NZ. He said that NZ government and UNHCR is going to give us 15000 dollars for our study, in return we have to pay UNHCR 516 dollar as paper work fee throug Western union Immediately. We did not send him any money we knew that he was a scammer but we are worried that he is aware about all our family details.
Archived Phone Scams
2012
2011
2010
Latest Phone Scams - April 2012
The Department is receiving reports of a male calling both mobile phones and landlines saying their name is Luke Johnson or Nick Dawson saying they work for the 'Asian Group' at Internal Affairs in Wellington and can offer a minority grant to give them citizenship. All they have to do is pay money via Western Union.Information from recipients of these calls advise that the caller was quite intimidating and knew their name and bank account information. If you receive one of these calls please do not engage with him and contact your bank to ensure there have been no unusual transactions.
Hello, I have just had a phone call from a person called "Robert" with a US accent who was offering me and three others the opportunity of a 14 day promotional stay at a Disneyland Hotel in Fort Lauderdale , Florida including a four day cruise to the Bahamas. They said I had entered a competition entry filled out at at Ramada Hotel which I did not recall. Eventually they asked for a credit card number, which I refused, for which they were going to charge $898 for "expenses," assuring me that everything else was to be paid for in return for advertising opportunities. After my refusal to part with my credit card numbers, the phone call abruptly ended.
The website mentioned was www bahamasflorida com.
Hi, at 7:14pm today (19 April) I received on our landline at home in Auckland a phone call from a man with a strong Indian accent calling from a private number, who said he had "received information that my computer had been infected with a virus". I said how on earth would you receive information like that, to which he said if I would turn on my computer he could tell me which files were infected and what to download to fix it.
He hung up pretty quickly when I said no.
Dear Staff
I followed up a link that appeared on my screen today when I was on a NZ webpage. It announced that I had won a prize of $3000 worth of travel for myself and 3 other persons. It gave me 4 minutes to phone an Auckland number 09 280 4742 in order to claim the prize.
The person I spoke to said he was Edward Jennings of Preferred Guest Resorts. The trip would supposedly include Florida, a cruise to the Bahamas, 7 day car rental, Daytona and other places.
We would have to pay for our own airfares from NZ to the USA and a room tax of $15 per night, but all else free.
It sounded feasible enough until they showed a statement on the web that concluded that there was a balance of $898.00 to pay. On receipt of my credit card number, they would send an emailed confirmation of the trip. I refused to do this, but I was however, sent the email confirmation letter. I decided it was a scam and hung up.
From: "Best Vacations Ever!" <customercare bestvacationsever com>
Date: 30 March 2012 1:46:11 PM
Subject: Vacation Purchase Confirmation, Dream # 518758
March 29, 2012
Account Number: 518758
Login Number: 6434559423
Accommodation Date: None
Dear name removed,
All of us at Start Vacationing Now would like to thank you for the trust and confidence that you have placed in our promotional vacation package offer. Through this special offer we have arranged for you to stay at a nearby area hotel just a few miles from gates to the Walt Disney World® Resort, and only minutes from Universal Studios®, SeaWorld®, and much more.
You may change or reschedule your confirmed arrival dates one time without penalty. Please re-confirm your arrival dates at least 45/60 days prior to arrival by calling 0800-862-0966 (Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m., EST).
Your promotional vacation package includes ALL of the following:
• 6 days and 5 nights in Orlando, Florida
• 1 week Economy Car Rental or 2 theme park tickets
• 4 days and 3 nights in Daytona Beach, Florida
• $40 Dinner Certificate
• 4 days and 3 nights in the Bahamas
****Transportation not included. Cruise option available for additional port and processing fees per person.
To view your vacation information online, please visit www startvacationingnow com.
We are privileged to have you as our guest to visit our resort properties. You and your spouse/traveling companion's only obligation will be to participate in complimentary 90-minute sales presentations of our beautiful vacation ownership resorts. It’s fun and informative. We think you will love it.
Have a magical vacation experience!
To view a full package description and complete details of participation, please go to www bestvacationsever com. Please contact us with any questions at 0800-862-0966.
Sincerely,
The Management & Staff
Start Vacationing Now
This advertising material is being used for the purpose of soliciting sales of a vacation ownership plan.
Preferred Guest Resorts, LLC. Florida Seller of Travel Reg. No. ST37842
March 2012
Following is information regarding a dodgy call to a cell phone:Some clothing items were purchased from a store over the weekend and as the woman was paying with her bank card she was asked if she wanted to sign up for a loyalty card. Normally she doesn't as it involves giving away too much personal information but she thought she might as well. She gave her name and a cell phone number which is one only her son calls her on.
On the 6th, that cell phone rang and she answered to hear an Indian sounding man's voice asking for her by name. She was suspicious so said she wasn't around and could she take a message. The man said he was calling from the bank about a policy she has with them. She said that she couldn't help but would give the message to her friend on her return and what number could her friend call him back on. He gave the 0800 number of the bank she is with and hung up.
She called the bank immediately who advised they don't have that cell phone number on her account with them and that there was no record of anyone from the bank calling her there was no reason anyone should have.
If you receive a similar call, please let your local Police know.
A member of the public sent through an email about a call advising she had won a Green Card to the USA:
They rang last Friday evening and congratulated me for winning a green card to the USA. After just a few questions they said I had qualified and this green card would take up to four years to receive and then gave me a username to access an account and more information on their website. With this account I also needed a password but they were unable to give me a password because I had to pay for the registration fee first which the guy on the phone said was $519.00 euro which was going to be eight hundred and something dollars NZ. At first I was very curious as to whether or not this guy is pulling my leg because after just 5 minutes on the phone this guy is asking me for hundreds of dollars. I told him I don't have that much and then he said he would talk to his manager. He said he could put me on another programme not knowing what the actual programmes were, he said they could offer me a registration fee of just $366.00 this time. He said I had to pay with a credit card, I asked if there was another way I could pay such as their account number and he got a bit agitated and rude on the phone I asked the question 3 times then on the 4th time I explained I'd like to do some rresearch into the company before I hand out hundreds of dollars on the phone and then he hung up.
Following is information received from a member of the public:
I received a call from a man with an Asian accent who called himself Shawn. He said he worked for the refund department of the government and gave his ID number as 9804RB. He then said they had done maintenance work on our computers and that we had overpaid by $299. He wanted me to go online and give him access to my computer and he would directly refund the money into the work bank account. I said I didn't have that authority and what was his contact number and he said 18665159918. Then the call ended.
February 2012
None this month.January 2012
None this month.December 2011
A member of the public received a call from Free Choice advising she was the 'Millionth person to complete their survey'. She has been kind enough to email her experience for the awareness of others. Feedback on blogs indicate that these holidays may be legitimate but you don't get what was promised, so not necessarily a scam but definitely a 'buyer beware' story. Following is taken from the email we received:I was on a website on the 15th Dec and saw that you could click a link/advertisement and complete a survey and you could win an Apple Ipad, Iphone or Ipod via www free-choice co nz. It looked valid and so I completed the survey answering several questions and then had to complete my details including name, address and contact phone number and email. I then received an email as per below in which you had to follow the link to 'validate' the entry.
From: Lisa from Free-Choice
Sent: Thursday, 15 December 2011 11:52 a.m.
Subject: name removed, selected to possibly win
Dear name removed,
You have just entered into www free-choice co nz !
Click the following link to secure your entry and win for free: http //www free-choice co nz/
Yours, Lisa
I never validated the entry.
The next day 16th December I missed a call from overseas. About 15 minutes later they rang again and it was an American lady telling me I was the one millionth person to complete the survey and I had qualified for a 14 night trip which included 7 nights in Florida, passes to Disneyworld etc, a 4 night cruise in the Bahamas and some nights in Fort Lauderdale for US$999 for 4 people. You had to pay to get yourself to Florida and they asked for 90 minutes of your time at, I think, a timeshare seminar. I would be allowed 18 months in which to save up and I could have the booking at any time I wanted within this time. After a long-winded spiel I was then transferred to a 'registered travel agent' to make the booking and take the necessary details. The travel agent started asking me all the same questions again and then got round to asking me which card I wanted to use - Visa or Mastercard - to pay the US$999. By this time the phone line was not very clear and I was even more suspicious so I asked if she could ring me back or email me the details. She got quite nasty and pushy and I ended up hanging up on her. I have not heard back from them since. The phone number that came up on my mobile was 0018139154040 and the email was from lisa free-choice.co.nz as per the below email received.
My sister also completed the same survey and has also since had several messages left on her phone.
We received an email regarding a 'stuck overseas' phone scam (these are more often seen as email scams). The following is copied directly from the email we received:
"Call received on my mobile at 2.03pm from 0063959590959 claiming to be Kaliyan Banerjee. He was trapped in the Philippines on his way from Chicago via Philippines and Sydney to his sisters funeral in Mangere, Auckland. He was on a prepay mobile which was running out of money. The voice, Filipino? male, asked me to ring back on 00639061846758.
The claim was he needed $620 to get a visa for himself and his wife to come to NZ. His flight VS7460, which he had to seek out, was leaving in about an hour. He would arrive in NZ Dec 7th at 12.05pm. His sister Veronica Banerjee, died yesterday in Auckland Hospital and the funeral would be later in the week in Mangere.
The money was to be sent via Western Union Service to Norma Martin, 25 Airport Rd., Angeles City, Philippines"
The calls are continuing regarding what we have termed 'the PC Scammer' where the caller advises that your computer is infected and sending out viruses and malware. An alternative is the advise that your Microsoft licence has expired.
This is a scam.
We have received reports that some people are receiving up to 10 phone calls in a day.
If you wanted to make a formal report about the calls you have received, you can lodge a complaint with your local Police asking them to associate your statement with file number 100827/0843.
November 2011
We have been advised by the NZ Police that currently the only official charity fund relating to the Bay of Plenty oil pollution near Tauranga is called the Bay of Plenty Care for Our Coast Fund. If you would like to donate you can contact either National Bank or ANZ. No one will contact you to ask for a donation.If you are contacted by someone seeking money for the clean-up or to rescue wildlife, please do not respond. Scammers will always try to take advantage of tragedies targeting people who feel the need to assist. Contact your local Police station and forward the information to info@antispam.govt.nz so we can add it to this page to warn others.
October 2011
None this month.September 2011
None this month.August 2011
None this monthJuly 2011
None this monthJune 2011
None this monthMay 2011
None this monthApril 2011
None this month.March 2011
None this monthFebruary 2011
None this monthJanuary 2011
None this month.December 2010
None this monthNovember 2010
A scammer purporting to be from the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is calling people in an attempt to trick them into divulging personal information, such as IRD numbers.The caller advises that they are from the Tax Back section of the IRD and that you are due a tax credit. They ask you to confirm your name, address and IRD number. Do not give out this information. The authentic Inland Revenue Department would never call to ask for personal information.
Any calls of this nature are likely to be scams and people are advised to hang-up immediately. For further information please contact IRD directly or visit their website: www.ird.govt.nz
October 2010
The Anti-Spam Compliance Unit is aware of a Las Vegas holiday phone scam with the intent to obtain your credit card details. Upon answering the phone a recorded message advises you have won a holiday package and to push '9' to find out more.The enthusiastic caller tries to convince you that you have won a prize from a competition that you haven't entered and you just need to pay some money on your credit card to cover some fees.
Up to two weeks before receiving this call, you may have some hang-up calls or unusual numbers displayed on your caller ID. Telecom investigators suggest this is the scammers’ computer programme finding functioning phone connections and that if you receive this scam call to hang-up immediately.
September 2010
None at this time.August 2010
SCAM WARNING – CALLER CLAIMS TO BE FROM INTERNAL AFFAIRSInternal Affairs is warning people who get unusual calls about bank fees to beware: a scammer claiming to be from the Department is trying to cheat people out of money.
Several people have called the Department after they were called and told Internal Affairs was holding bank fee money for them, and that it could be released by payment of a 'fee' or 'tax'.
Internal Affairs does not hold any bank fees for anyone, and has nothing to do with these callers. It does not ring people offering money for a fee.
Anyone who is suspicious of a call purporting to be from Internal Affairs can ask for the caller's name, and ring back on an Internal Affairs number published in the White Pages or on the Department's official website under 'General Enquiries' (Phone (04) 495 7200).
A man, claiming to be a stock broker in Hong Kong, calls offering investment in a Canadian energy company. He says he got the subscriber’s number because he had completed the ‘Great New Zealand Survey’ (which he had not).
The caller says he has ‘privileged information’ from his New York consultants that the Canadian company has signed a huge deal with the US government in the wake of the Mexican Gulf oil leak and this has yet to be made public. He says the subscriber could make a killing by investing now.
The subscriber ended the call, wisely rejecting the offer. The Department is aware that other people have sent money and heard nothing further!
The Anti-Spam Compliance Unit was made aware of a man (recently, also reports of a woman) calling homes suggesting there was a problem with their Windows operating system. He then tried to talk them into logging-on to their computers, so he could guide them through 'fixing' the system. The caller is very persistent.
Neither fax nor phone spam or scams fall foul of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 - however, because this forum is available for public awareness we wanted to advise of this scam and the fax scam recorded below.
For more information please read our media releases:
Computer scamster active 11/08/2010
Don't get sucked in by cold caller 10/08/2010
July 2010
None at this time.June 2010
None at this time.May 2010
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