As put by Detective Inspector Stuart Mills, Manager Intercept and Technology Operations for the National Criminal Investigation Group:
With Christmas fast approaching, Police are encouraging people to be aware of online phishing scams.
The holiday season can already be a stressful time, and the last thing you want is to lose large sums of money to a scam.
A phishing scam is an online scam, where the offender pretends to be a trustworthy person or organisation to try and get a victim's personal information.
Police has received a number of phishing scam reports with offenders targeting people who are selling items or services online like Trade Me and Facebook Marketplace.
The offenders pretend to be an interested buyer, and urgently request to buy your product and arrange a courier pickup.
The victim receives a fake courier website link to complete a verification process asking for personal details, like bank account numbers, passwords, and phone numbers.
Once provided these details, the offender uses these to access a victim's bank account, tricking the victim into proving any multifactor authentication code sent from the victim's bank.
The money in the victim's bank account is then taken by the offender once access is gained.
Police are urging members of the public to be cautious, especially when someone in person or online is asking you to give them money or your personal details like bank accounts and passwords.
