Supermarket staff in Upper Hutt pulled aside an elderly woman who was in "distress and was shaking", and eventually found out she was the target of scammers who had forced her to buy hundreds of dollars worth of iTunes vouchers.
Stuff reports Carol Sutherland of Maidstone Countdown in Upper Hutt realised something wasn't "right" when the woman wanted $500 worth of iTunes vouchers.
Store manager Gaye Grosset said in a statement they are aware of scammers creating elaborate stories to encourage the purchase of iTunes cards from their victims and "in this case, we didn't have the correct amount of iTunes denominations that the customer wanted," Ms Grosset said.
"We were able to use this time to ask the customer what she was buying the cards for. She mentioned they were for her grandsons, but it was quite clear that she was in distress and was shaking a lot."
Ms Sutherland kept asking questions and eventually found out the elderly woman had been forced by scammers who knew her name, address, and even her make of car, according to Stuff.
Vouchers worth $300 had already been purchased at another supermarket by the woman. She was taken to police by Countdown staff.
Many scammers have turned to iTunes vouchers are they are untraceable and instant, according to the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission.
The Australian government issued a statement back in 2016 warning of scammers demanding urgent payment for bills using iTunes vouchers. The scammers ask for the 16-digit number on the back of the voucher. They also had issues of scammers asking for payment through pre-paid Visa gift cards.
Also in 2016, New Zealand police warned of calls that were made to sound like they were coming from government departments, with over 900,000 of those calls reported from June 2016 to July 2016.
"Government agencies will never require or ask you to pay a fine by using an iTunes voucher. If you get a call from someone saying you need to pay a fine by iTunes vouchers... just to hang up," police said at the time.
The iTunes scam continues to circulate, with police again warning in October last year of "mulitple incidents" of people impersonating a police officer involving "a male voice... telling the victim that their family member has been arrested".
"The caller then demands that the victim pays the officer a significant amount of cash in order for the release of their family member in custody."
"In some of the incidents, the victim has been asked to purchase a significant amount of iTunes vouchers instead of cash."
If people are targeted, they can call: Auckland City Police Financial Crime Unit on 09 302 6400 or your nearest police station.
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