Fraud Awareness Week focuses on seniors

Raising awareness among seniors who are most vulnerable to scams is the key focus for this year’s Fraud Awareness Week, says Consumer Affairs Minister Craig Foss.

About 10 per cent of New Zealanders approached by scammers hand over money, losing on average $5000 each.  Reported losses to scams have increased in recent years, from $1.7m reported in 2010 to almost $4m last year.

“Scams have serious financial implications – sometimes a victim’s entire life savings can be gone before they realise they’ve been scammed. Less visible is the psychological toll that comes from the embarrassment, grief, loss of face and family breakdown,” says Mr Foss.

Three years of combined scam reports have shown that:

• Reported losses are growing year on year
• Dating and investment scams show the highest reported losses
• Reported losses when buying and selling online continue to increase every year.

“Seniors may have more available cash, they are more likely to travel and may be less internet and social media-savvy than the younger generation, which makes them particularly vulnerable to certain types of scams. They are also more likely to lose money to online travel/accommodation scams, are twice as likely as other age groups to lose money to investment scams and are four times as likely to fall prey to dating scams,” says Mr Foss.

Mr Foss will officially launch Fraud Awareness Week 2013 at the Scamscape Conference in Wellington today, co-hosted by MBIE and Trade Me.

To report a scam visit www.scamwatch.govt.nz