"Something safer than the sharemarket"

[Habits]

Sad tale of a hardworking now retired female firefighter who fell for the scammers and lost retirement savings.

A timely story with the bear market driving people away from shares to a fixed return. Her goal was to make an investment in "something safer than the sharemarket" which turned out to be anything but.

I personally only deal with well known and on-shore operators but even then I feel I could still be duped. The scammers seem to have covered all their bases with local phone numbers and a perceived structure etc. Not all scams are amateurish type emails.

Stay safe people.

Firefighter's warning after losing life savings to sophisticated bank scam
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/firefighters-warning-after-losing-life-savings-to-sophisticated-bank-scam/T2LEQ66SNM7WDGTGTXQUZ4PFYI/

[Habits]

Sorry - premium content!

The Nelson based firewoman sent $325,000 to NY multinational banking group Citibank or so she thought. The scammers had contacted her through a general online enquiry she made for insurance and investment products and forwarded the bank's own prospectus. A plausible Englishman contacted her several times and required paperwork for AML. She would phone him via an Auckland local number with a receptionist, which could just be a paid answering service, answering the phone Sounds very normal.

[fungus pudding]

Sorry - premium content!

The Nelson based firewoman sent $325,000 to NY multinational banking group Citibank or so she thought. The scammers had contacted her through a general online enquiry she made for insurance and investment products and forwarded the bank's own prospectus. A plausible Englishman contacted her several times and required paperwork for AML. She would phone him via an Auckland local number with a receptionist, which could just be a paid answering service, answering the phone Sounds very normal.

Here is the story:

https://funancial.news/firefighters-warning-after-saving-lives-in-sophisticated-bank-scam/

- like much of Herald's 'premium content' it's often easy to find in another paper. Just copy headline, or sub heading, and paste into google or your favourite search engine.

[Balance]

Sorry - premium content!

The Nelson based firewoman sent $325,000 to NY multinational banking group Citibank or so she thought. The scammers had contacted her through a general online enquiry she made for insurance and investment products and forwarded the bank's own prospectus. A plausible Englishman contacted her several times and required paperwork for AML. She would phone him via an Auckland local number with a receptionist, which could just be a paid answering service, answering the phone Sounds very normal.

Nothing like a posh English accent huh? For an American Bank! Hello!!!!

[Cricketfan]

Nothing like a posh English accent huh? For an American Bank! Hello!!!!

Yeah there's no way a British person could possibly work for an American bank.

[Bjauck]

Nothing like a posh English accent huh? For an American Bank! Hello!!!!
??

I have had an American accent on my big Aussie bank’s NZ number. Should I have contacted the scam department immediately?

$325,000 fire fighter’s pension fund? Even without the other details that is a bit of an indication that she spent much of her working life outside NZ.

[Biscuit]

How come that article is so badly written? It is barely readable. Is the victim a man or a woman? The "reporter" seems to think that him/her and he/she are interchangeable and can be used at random. I'd agree that banks, and insurance companies, have become substantially degraded for customer service now that it is virtually impossible to deal face-to-face with an intelligent, knowledgeable, kiwi, human being.

[JBmurc]

Here is the story:

https://funancial.news/firefighters-warning-after-saving-lives-in-sophisticated-bank-scam/

- like much of Herald's 'premium content' it's often easy to find in another paper. Just copy headline, or sub heading, and paste into google or your favourite search engine.

Geeez all for a few point higher than NZ deposit rates .... all of her savings because the Sharemarket was so risky ?? she should have come on here to ST least ask the Question about finding a good safer return .. diversity #1 safety she could have got in the sharemarket Vs one Oversea savings account ...

[troyvdh]

JB...with all due respect....Which planet are you on.Most kiwis are deeply suspicious and weary of the SM.
I have in recent times been in the company of those who just left a high decile high school in chch and asked what their knowledge was of credit cards...mortgages....et al..
I may well have been speaking ...Swaili or Finnish as far as they were concerned.

[Cricketfan]

How come that article is so badly written? It is barely readable. Is the victim a man or a woman? The "reporter" seems to think that him/her and he/she are interchangeable and can be used at random.

I'm no fan of The Herald, but I didn't find it hard to read, and it was clear the victim was a woman (I was skim reading, admittedly). Do you have examples of when they got the gender wrong or other parts that were badly written?

[fungus pudding]

I'm no fan of The Herald, but I didn't find it hard to read, and it was clear the victim was a woman (I was skim reading, admittedly). Do you have examples of when they got the gender wrong or other parts that were badly written?

Read the article. I have posted the link in my previous post.

[BDL]

The mirror version of the story at "Financial News Today" is very badly written. Not sure what the Herald story is like.

The main issue is when we are searching on line our data is being sold off so these crocks are getting hold of the fact she had some money to invest and was looking for a home for it.

Does a VPN help fix this or does our service provider also sell our browsing history?
It is all getting very complicated to try and keep safe online.

[Cricketfan]

Read the article. I have posted the link in my previous post.

Ah yes, that other article is slightly different and does have the genders mixed up at times. The Herald's version seems fine though.

[Cricketfan]

The main issue is when we are searching on line our data is being sold off so these crocks are getting hold of the fact she had some money to invest and was looking for a home for it.

Does a VPN help fix this or does our service provider also sell our browsing history?
It is all getting very complicated to try and keep safe online.

Nope, according to the article:

"She happened upon a generic website that asked if she was looking for investment opportunities as well as insurance. She ticked yes, also entering her contact details."

So, don't go supplying your details to a generic website, or if you do, be very careful when you are contacted back.

[Nor]

How come that article is so badly written? It is barely readable. Is the victim a man or a woman? The "reporter" seems to think that him/her and he/she are interchangeable and can be used at random. I'd agree that banks, and insurance companies, have become substantially degraded for customer service now that it is virtually impossible to deal face-to-face with an intelligent, knowledgeable, kiwi, human being.

The person's surname is spelt about six different ways too.

[Habits]

Got this today from "NZTA"... can you see the flaw in the wording. I did not immediately notice but I saw a reference to costarica as the page was loading.. so checked the email address which was allanandbob@....

Any idea where I should report this?



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[Grimy]

You can report it directly to NZTA through their website. They have a link on their home page banner

[Onemootpoint]

Good thing you don’t have any ‘vehicules’, so no licence to renew….

[pedro.nz]

Yes, and it then goes on to say...
"It will expires soon" ;)

[mike2020]

No one should get cocky these thieves have no scruples and seem to be quite adaptable. The grammar is always a giveaway. There are some words that seem to be common hurdles for entire populations and I think its how their own language converts and their hard wired thinking. Things to watch out for,
OCA is surely going to doubles in price this FY.
ATM will never be this cheaps again.
BGP is a steel at these price.

[Jay]

No one should get cocky these thieves have no scruples and seem to be quite adaptable. The grammar is always a giveaway. There are some words that seem to be common hurdles for entire populations and I think its how their own language converts and their hard wired thinking. Things to watch out for,
OCA is surely going to doubles in price this FY.
ATM will never be this cheaps again.
BGP is a steel at these price.

What are you saying there mike?
Those 3 things may not happen, they are a scam.

Sorry gotta go and sell my OCA ATM and BGP shares quickly :)

[mike2020]

Ones a trap, ones real and the other's whatever you make of it. True of the language though, I have yet to see a scam that didn't have some clues if your looking.

[fungus pudding]

Ones a trap, ones real and the other's whatever you make of it. True of the language though, I have yet to see a scam that didn't have some clues if your looking.

Like two missing and one misplaced apostrophe? :D

[GTM 3442]

Let's face it - the good folk who haunt Sharetrader are unlikely to get scammed by this. They're not the target market.

But there are a whole bunch of people out there who don't haunt Sharetrader, and a whole bunch more who are essentially financially illiterate. At any level of financial interaction, they're in way over their heads

And there are enough of them to make it worthwhile. Let's face it - if the scams didn't work, there'd be no scams.

[mike2020]

Nothing that subtle :cool:

[alokdhir]

What are you saying there mike?
Those 3 things may not happen, they are a scam.

Sorry gotta go and sell my OCA ATM and BGP shares quickly :)

If still had all these 3 shares before reading that post ...then u need visit this site more often mate ...lol