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AUGUST 8, 2024
Beware of con artists They knock on your door with special deals – or call you up posing as your caring bank. And many of the con artists then make a killing. Waitomo police are investigating cases of a $48,000 bank fraud – and following up reports that sellers who have been deceiving customers from Kaitaia to Masterton have been operating on their patch. And they are repeating warning to residents not to be sucked in. In the fraud case a woman police described as elderly found $48,000 had been removed from her account after a 24-minute conversation with a person she thought was a BNZ employee. The call was made out of hours – not long before 6pm on August 1 – and the caller conned the woman into sharing details about her accounts and the devices connected to them. The con artist sent her text messages which convinced her the caller was legitimate. Ōtorohanga police sergeant Jimmie Walker offered clear instructions to readers of The News. “Please, never engage with anyone who calls you claiming to be from your bank and trying to speak to you about one of your accounts – we would recommend that you do not respond to them in any way – just hang up.”
The next step would be to call your own bank on its publicly available phone number to discuss the issue, he said. “This helps to reduce the risk of somebody defrauding your bank account,” Walker said. Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly last month published a letter in which he called on the banking industry to introduce a confirmation of payee system to check banks account names and numbers match before allowing electronic transactions to proceed. He said he was aware the New Zealand Banking Association was seeking to implement such a system. Online scams and fraud costs New Zealanders almost $200 million in 2023. Sergeant Walker was also aware of the second issue being dealt with involving people offering portable generators. A van they used was followed by a homeowner into Ōtorohanga. Walker said there was a similar incident on July 15 and over the past 14 months 25 reports of electronic equipment being offered for sale had been made between Kaitaia and Masterton. “A man associated with the van has been documented in the past allegedly selling electronic equipment for grossly inflated pricing,” Walker said.
“Police would caution anyone who has contact with the van and occupants to be wary about dealing with them or purchasing items from them. If they are approached, please consider calling Police on 105 to report it.”
This van has been linked to sellers cold calling people to offer electrical equipment.
Helping with our medal haul
Kerri Williams
King Country and Waipā athletes had a hand in many of the nine medals picked up by New Zealand at the Olympics in France as this edition went to press. And for rowing sisters Jackie Gowler and Kerri Williams – whose parents Brent and Diane manage a coastal block west of Waitomo - it’s been a case of successive games medals. Gowler, 28, and Williams, 30, with Canterbury pair Phoebe Spoors and Davina Waddy, won bronze in the women’s four to go with the silver they picked up as part of the women’s eight skiff at the Tokyo games three years ago. The Raetihi born sisters’ rowing careers spans three Olympic games - Kerri rowed with the New Zealand
women’s eight at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 and at Tokyo in 2020 she teamed up with Grace Prendergast to win gold in the women’s coxless pair in record time. Cambridge and Te Awamutu have also celebrated medal wins Cambridge-based rowers Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors won the women’s double sculls at Vaires-surMarne Nautical Stadium last Thursday and two days later Emma Twigg picked up silver in the single sculls. Then on Tuesday, Cambridge’s Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch from Te Awamutu and Tauranga born Shaane Fulton made up the women’s cycling sprint team which picked up silver in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome in Paris.
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