Eight cases of financial losses over an online scam in Wellington are currently being investigated by police.
Two of the cases have left victims over $100,000 out of pocket, with one losing $137,000 to the scam and another $105,000.
Due to the nature of how the money has been stolen, police have labelled it as a "task scam". It is explained as a type of scam where individuals are deceived into completing tasks under the belief they are in employment.
"These include such things as, writing a specified number of online reviews for consumables like luxury travel package, household products and cosmetics," police said.
"In the recent cost of living crisis, we've seen an increase in people having second jobs or side hustles. As a result, what is known as a Task Scam has emerged as a particularly deceptive threat.
"These scams imitate legitimate earning opportunities, with the ability to seemingly work around your lifestyle when and how you please."
Last month, an unnamed Wellington man lost almost $22,000 by falling into the same trap.
He was lured in by the chance of some easy money and told police he regretted his decision.
He said it was the first time he'd ever been scammed, and never expected he would fall for it.
"I have lost a significant amount of my life savings, I had to stop 'working the task' because I had no money left.
"But then my (fake) 'supervisor' encouraged me to borrow money from a friend, or to apply for a loan from a bank, or online loan website.
"They build trust, they monitor your progress like any other good manager would.
"They offer advice, before requesting more and more financial investments to enable you to move through to reviewing higher value items, it's very convincing."
"I urge people to be very careful online and avoid any schemes which offer easy cash," he added.
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