Need a hand?

"I got a message from 'my daughter' saying she'd lost her phone and was using a friend's phone to message me. She sounded so stressed. She asked me to send NZD 200 to an account so she had access to some money and could resolve the situation."

"I felt so bad for her that I did it immediately. 10 minutes later, my actual daughter called me from her real phone. I realised I'd just sent NZD 200 to a stranger."

This situation typically begins with a message from an unrecognised phone number or via social media. The criminal poses as a loved one, or close friend and introduces an urgent financial crisis that supposedly cannot be resolved because they have no access to their device or money.

They might claim they have an overdue bill that must be paid within the hour, or that they are stranded and need money for emergency travel. They rely on you acting out of panic rather than logic. They will ask you to transfer funds to a friend's account that actually belongs to a fraudster.

The fraud is usually only discovered hours later when you finally speak to your actual relative on their original, working phone, by which time the stolen money has been cleared out of the recipient account.

• Requests for secrecy and speed: The scammer will insist the situation is urgent and that you must transfer the money immediately to a new or unknown account. You should always take a moment to pause and verify the story before making any financial transfer
• Rejecting voice calling: If the person claims they can only text because their 'microphone is broken', treat this as a major red flag. In a real emergency, a loved one will almost always find a way to let you hear their voice
• Challenge with a personal question: If you cannot reach the person by phone, reply to the message or call with a question only the real loved one would know the answer to. Scammers who have only hacked an account will typically fail this check

• Verify the emergency using a different channel: If you receive an urgent request for money from a family member via text or social media message, immediately try to contact them through a known, independent method. Call their official mobile phone number or speak to another close family member
• Never transfer to an unknown account: Do not transfer money, RevPoints, or cryptocurrency to any new account or account details provided in an unsolicited message. Legitimate family members will not typically ask you to use non-refundable methods for an emergency payment
• Secure the compromised account: If you confirm the message is fraudulent, contact the social media platform or mobile provider immediately to report the profile and secure the compromised account to prevent the scammer from targeting others using your loved one's identity