Richmond’s senior constable Kyle Abbott hates Facebook Marketplace with a passion because of the number of scammers that use it, but it’s just one of the many ways people continue to get scammed.
Scams and fraud are now New Zealand’s biggest crimes and the economic cost to Kiwis is more than $2 billion a year. Most scams locally are now reported online, so Kyle does not know how much money has been lost here, but he says it will be the biggest crime here as well, with people continually falling for the scammer’s lies. In the past month, there were 35 scams reported locally.
“Once the money has gone overseas, there’s no getting it back.”
He put his own car on Facebook Marketplace recently and after three days he removed it because it was mostly scammers who were seeking ways to access money, sometimes by asking for a vehicle report and clicking a link to do that.
“I know there are good honest people on Marketplace selling legitimate things, but I really wish they’d pull the pin on Marketplace.”
It may be on the phone or through email impersonating debt collectors, a bank, insurance company, Spark – the list is growing and the scams are getting more sophisticated, especially with the help of AI – and it frustrates him that people continue to fall for it. He says people need to stay up to date with technology and be more educated about the dangers of scams and fraud.
“If you don’t accept change and move with it, you are going to be left behind.”
Mostly, victims of scams are in the older generation, so he says the younger generations need to look out for those people.
“A lot of issues around scams is people are lonely. Check up on your elderly people – check up on grandparents, parents and neighbours.”
If it is banking-related scam, he says people need to go to the bank first and as soon as possible.
“To be honest, banks have more clout than we do, and banks have to take a bit of responsibility as well. Don’t come in here two days after you lost your credit card. If you lose your cards or wallet, your first call is your bank.”
