Bryce Gray, 74, a retired engineer and former second-hand book shop owner, describes himself as being "pretty good with computers", but even so was ripped off to the tune of $22,500 by online scammers in June.
While selling a bedside clock through popular online platform Facebook Marketplace, Mr Gray fell victim to a scam known as the "NZ Post phishing scam", which has compromised a significant number of New Zealanders.
"I was contacted by this person supposedly from Greymouth, who stated she had paid NZ Post couriers to pick up the parcel from me — even though I hadn’t given an address.
"She said NZ Post would contact me for details and pay me when they picked up the parcel — even providing an order number and supplying a link," he said.
"I made a mistake and clicked on that link."
He was in the midst of a stressful time, trying to book flights to visit a dying friend in Auckland, and was distracted, so not quite cautious enough, Mr Gray said.
"I have bought and sold a lot of stuff online through various platforms and usually have no problems," he said.
"This time, I was unlucky."
Growing suspicious, he went in to NZ Post to inquire and was told the order number and link were not valid.
It was while he was away visiting his friend that he was contacted by his bank, BNZ, and told about "suspicious activity" on his account.
He tried changing passwords, but it was too late, the scammers had gained access to his accounts and had taken funds in two large chunks — on June 6 and 13.
In the 10 weeks since then, Mr Gray has been living the nightmare of dealing with the aftermath of fraud.
He has been in regular contact with the BNZ fraud protection unit and the police southern district investigation support unit.
Initially, the bank was able to effect only a "partial retrieval" of $3000, but last week he was relieved and pleased to hear it would reimburse him for the full amount of his loss.
"It has been such a relief to have the money back and, even though I don’t understand the ins and outs of the bank retrieving stolen funds, I’m grateful for it," Mr Gray said.
In response to questions about Mr Gray’s case, a bank spokesperson said the NZ Post phishing scan that Mr Gray fell victim to had caught out a number of New Zealanders.
"Mr Gray’s account was compromised by scammers on 6 June. Between 6 June and 13 June, two fraudulent transactions occurred, authorised using Mr Gray’s banking credentials," the spokesperson said.
"The transaction on June 13 triggered BNZ’s internal monitoring systems. BNZ’s fraud team immediately got in touch with Mr Gray and, once we confirmed this transaction and the previous transaction were fraudulent, we launched the fund recovery process.
"Unfortunately, we were only able to recover $3000 of the missing funds, but on review of the case, and in light of the considerable hardship Mr Gray was facing as a result of the scam, we made the decision to provide a goodwill payment.
"We understand the distress scams cause, and we take our obligation to protect our customers from scams and fraud seriously.
"We have a dedicated fraud protection team working 24/7 to protect our customers, and we invest tens of millions of dollars every year in fraud and scam protection.
"BNZ works closely with government agencies, police, the banking ombudsman, telcos and others to strengthen scam protections," the bank spokesperson said.
"Falling into this kind of trap can make you feel quite stupid, but I’ve been told that the same thing has happened to a lot of people — from all walks of life," Mr Gray said.
"I really want to warn people to be very careful and to trust your gut if something feels off, because online scams are just so prevalent now."
PHISHING SCAM
What is the NZ Post phishing scam?
• Scammers contact people selling items on online platforms and offer to purchase the item for sale.
They then claim they have paid NZ Post for the item or for postage and advise the seller they will be contacted by NZ Post for their details so that NZ Post can release the payment and ship the item to them.
• The seller then receives a fake message from the scammers pretending to be from NZ Post, which takes them to a fake website asking for their banking access number, password and other personal information.
• Once a seller enters their details, the scammer has access to their bank account.
•Scammers will often immediately attempt to set up a banking app on a new device. To do this, they require authentication codes which are sent to a victim’s phone or email.
• It’s important to remember that banks will never ask customers to verbally disclose this information.
• NZ Post provides regular updates about scams and fraud online via www.nzpost.co.nz/contact-support/scams-and-fraud
