Banks are working together in an effort to clamp down on scams as part of an inter-agency fraud awareness group, 1News can reveal.
Nearly $200 million has been lost to scams in the last year, some of which have been evolving.
Email scams, fake social media profiles and people selling false goods are well known to the public but fake invoices, text messages and romance scams have also been on the rise. They're simply crafted, but have cost banks and their customers millions.
New Zealand Banks Association chief executive officer Roger Beaumont told 1News the scams are essentially "digital ram-raids" but he can't reveal too much about the banks' collaboration effort.
"We can't go into too much detail because we don't want to give the scammers too much information, but key information can be shared between banks.
"Banks are often at the end of a chain of events that makes up a scam and we know a coordinated multi-sector approach is needed to further protect customers.
“The first phase of work is now live and is focused on sharing additional information to help identify and reduce fraudulent payments to mule accounts. Banks were already sharing some information on money mules but the new phase of work will increase the speed and amount of information being shared.”
A money mule ― a growing issue in New Zealand ― is a person, or company, used by criminals to transfer illegally obtained money on their behalf.
CERT NZ tracks the ever increase number and types of scams, and the dollar amounts being lost to them.
Senior analyst Sam Leggett said: "It usually comes in about four or five million [dollars] each quarter. We know that that's only snapshot of what's going on, but that's also increasing."
Leggett said knowing what to look for and how to spot scams can go "a long way" to prevent people from falling victim to them.
Because scams are now costing banks so much, it's become worth it for them to invest time, resources and technology to prevent and stop what they can.
"It's all about trying to keep ahead of them, because these people are very sophisticated and very crafty at what they do," said Beaumont.
Other initiatives include introducing a "confirmation of payee" account name-checking service, and removing weblinks from texts to customers.
Beaumont added: “We are currently looking at technical options and extensive work is underway to ensure compliance with existing privacy laws. This will enable a timeline for the initiatives, including implementation of a confirmation of payee service, which will allow people making an online payment from one bank account to another to check the name of the account they are paying."
"We expect to provide more detail by the end of April."
Common scams
- Phishing: Phishing is a type of email scam, where the sender pretends to be a trustworthy organisation to try and get your personal information, like internet banking login details.
- Social media: Social media scams happen when someone tries to get money from you through social media, often pretending to be someone you know. They may also be someone buying or selling something on a social media marketplace.
- Invoice: Invoice scams affect both individuals and businesses.Scammers will send fake invoices requesting payment for goods or services that you didn't ask for or receive.
- Calls: Scam phone calls are less common but do still happen. Scammers call pretending to be from a well-known company, requesting remote access to your PC or device, to gain access to private information on your device, like your financial information.
- Money and investment: Scammers will attempt to get you to part with money or valuable information under the false assumption that you’ll receive financial or personal gain in return.
- Romance: Romance scammers create fake online profiles to try to take advantage of someone looking for a relationship online using dating sites and apps or social media to build a relationship with you. Once they’ve gained your trust, they will start to ask you for money, gifts or personal details.
- Text message: Text message scams, or 'smishing scams', are messages sent out by scammers who are looking to get access to personal information, financial details, phone, or money.
- Money Mules: A money mule is someone who transfers illegally acquired money on behalf of someone else. They help launder the proceeds derived from online scams and fraud by allowing their personal bank account to receive money before the money mule transfers the money.
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