Editor’s Note: beware the scammers

Digital technology is everywhere, as is social media, and with them the exponentially increasing threat of cybercrime. I’m talking about scams, phishing, identity and financial information theft, plus a raft of clever ways for fraudsters to part people from their money.

Ultimately it is all about the money; the scammers taking your money. For them, it is a job.

Social media in particular has become a playground for scammers. In New Zealand during October 2024, there was a 21% increase of risk regarding extortion emails, while studies showed that phishing and malvertising were the top two threats spread through social media, followed by e-shop and financial scams.

In New Zealand, phishing seems to be a more prevalent threat than e-shop scams when compared to global statistics where the situation is different.

While the overall financial scams share of malware decreased in New Zealand by 64% compared with the previous quarter, the decrease was mainly at the beginning of the quarter. By the end of the year malware scams had started to increase, up 8.26% when compared with the previous month.

Some scams may seem obvious, others may not, yet the message is clear. We all need to be wary to avoid being scammed, phished, or defrauded. Much of the money lost cannot be recovered, so think twice, even thrice, before giving credit card and bank account information online.

Now our new issue has hit the stands, sit back, relax, and enjoy the read. It costs you nothing but time.