Couple lose hundreds of thousands in scam

In the incident last Wednesday, Detective Sergeant Dave Grace of the Waikato police fraud squad said a 'so then spoken' Indian man called the couple claiming to be from Inland Revenue.

Isolated case

"This is not an isolated case but the large sum is. Over recent months police have taken dozen calls from the public who have received unsolicited texts, phone calls or emails from people claiming they were from a bank or government department," Grace said.

''Before all else, in instances where people have claimed to be from Inland Revenue, Government agencies don't solicit funds over the phone. Go to IRD and query the validity of the call. Reputable banks as well don't operate thus."

In March, the Waikato police fraud squad received dozens of calls from people who had received texts or phone calls from people claiming to be from a bank or government department stating they had been overcharged or taxed.

However, one Hamilton East business owner who received a similar email contacted IRD and was quickly assured it was false.

The orb allows you to 'report online crimes

The orb allows you to 'report online crimes, online' Strictly speaking, not all internet based incidents are crimes in accordance with New Zealand law and not all our partner are law enforcement agencies.

Paul #11, you are not wasting the scammers' resources. You are wasting the resource of the person whose PABX got hacked and used to route calls.

The Deleted items folder

Emails just go straight into the Deleted items folder. People on the phone get told to p!ss off. It's working then for me.

@Mega #54 I used to work for a telemarketing company. The phone lists they use are often old, so you may nevertheless receive calls even afterwards making your number unlisted, however they have to remove it from their list if you ask them to. However it be, scammers will continue to contact you if your number is available somewhere other than the phone book, e.g. in the comments of Trademe auctions, when you sign up to a site, posters looking for lost animals etc.