New Zealanders losing more money to online credit card scams
Losses reported to Netsafe in October totalled $6264, compared to $1865 in September - a 220 percent jump.
In September, losses per incident averaged about $50, whereas the average loss last month was about $220.
However, the number of reports to Netsafe fell from 37 in September to 28 in October.
Netsafe chief online safety officer Sean Lyons said the sharp rise in financial losses suggested scammers were getting more sophisticated with their tactics.
"The quality of what people are being presented with is, on the whole, increasingly improving.
"Red flags we might've relied on previously - the spelling is wrong, it doesn't look right or I'm pretty sure that's not what the logo of this particular agency looks like - are becoming less valuable as a method for us to check whether something is a scam."
Credit card-related scams typically involve scammers collecting payment card numbers, and using them to make purchases or other payments online.
Lyons said people were being targeted via email, text, private instant messaging platforms - including WhatsApp - website and social media ads, and phone calls.
He said looking up an organisation's contact details and getting in touch with them directly was the best way to confirm whether a message was genuine.
"It might say that you have a payment due or a package waiting to be delivered.
"Don't be pressured into making a decision on the scammer's timeline. Step back, get advice from the people around you or give Netsafe a call.
"Make sure what you're engaging with is actually genuine and you're not being sucked into a scam."
With the festive season and Black Friday approaching, he said people should be extra vigilant, if asked to pay for something or if they saw an offer that seemed too good to be true.
"It's a time when people let their guard down a bit. When we are looking for deals or ordering and expecting the arrival of things, we can be more susceptible to these scams."
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Even Australians get it - so why not Kiwis???
“Ten years ago, if a heatwave as intense as last week’s record-breaker had hit the east coast, Australia’s power supply may well have buckled. But this time, the system largely operated as we needed, despite some outages.
On Australia’s main grid last quarter, renewables and energy storage contributed more than 50% of supplied electricity for the first time, while wholesale power prices were more than 40% lower than a year earlier.
[…] shifting demand from gas and coal for power and petrol for cars is likely to deliver significantly lower energy bills for households.
Last quarter, wind generation was up almost 30%, grid solar 15% and grid-scale batteries almost tripled their output. Gas generation fell 27% to its lowest level for a quarter century, while coal fell 4.6% to its lowest quarterly level ever.
Gas has long been the most expensive way to produce power. Gas peaking plants tend to fire up only when supply struggles to meet demand and power prices soar. Less demand for gas has flowed through to lower wholesale prices.”
Full article: www.theguardian.com...
If even Australians see the benefit of solar - then why is NZ actively boycotting solar uptake? The increased line rental for electricity was done to make solar less competitive and prevent cost per kWh to rise even more than it did - and electricity costs are expected to rise even more. Especially as National favours gas - which is the most expensive form of generating electricity. Which in turn will accelerate Climate Change, as if New Zealand didn’t have enough problems with droughts, floods, slips, etc. already.
Time to Tickle Your Thinker 🧠
If a zookeeper had 100 pairs of animals in her zoo, and two pairs of babies are born for each one of the original animals, then (sadly) 23 animals don’t survive, how many animals do you have left in total?
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm on the day!
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Poll: As a customer, what do you think about automation?
The Press investigates the growing reliance on your unpaid labour.
Automation (or the “unpaid shift”) is often described as efficient ... but it tends to benefit employers more than consumers.
We want to know: What do you think about automation?
Are you for, or against?
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9.5% For. Self-service is less frustrating and convenient.
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43.3% I want to be able to choose.
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47.2% Against. I want to deal with people.
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