Online phishing scam
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.
Never comply with a request asking you to provide or ‘verify’ your online banking details.
Legitimate organisations will never ask you to do this.
If you are unsure if it is real, please contact your bank by the phone number on their official website or go to your nearest branch.
If you receive a courier website link from a potential buyer, this is likely a scam.
Please do not fill out the verification process.
Use the social media/trading platform’s reporting tools to report the scam and the user involved.
You can also make a report to Netsafe at report.netsafe.org.nz.
If you have handed over your online banking details, contact your bank immediately and suspend your account.
If you think you have been scammed (provided your banking details and/or suffered a loss), please gather as much information you can and make a report to Police online through 105.police.govt.nz or call 105.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Animal Abuser
🚨 URGENT WARNING TO ALL LOST & FOUND / PET REHOMING PAGES 🚨 and people rehoming pets or reporting lost animals.
It has come to our attention that a long-term, repeat animal abuser is still actively obtaining animals through Facebook groups.
The type of animal does not matter — birds, livestock, dogs, small pets — anything he can access.
He monitors rehoming pages. He approaches people offering “help.” He presents as reasonable. He will say the right things.
Do not give this person any animals under any circumstances.
If you are an admin of a lost & found page, a community group, or a pet rehoming group:
• Please stay vigilant
• Check profiles carefully
• Share this warning across your networks
Animals have already paid the price for people not knowing.
If you are unsure about someone requesting an animal, ask rescue groups to help.
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
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