Brian Cherry of Ashburton lost all of his savings to a scammer.
The 81-year-old said the scammer even called him a taxi, so he could get to service stations to buy the digital vouchers the scammer needed.
It comes as Consumer NZ launches a petition calling on the government to step in and force banks, digital platforms and telecommunication companies to do more to stamp out scams.
Brian is the third Ashburton scam victim who has spoken to The Ashburton Courier this year. In May, a woman in her 60s warned others after losing $15,000; in January a 65-yearold widower lost $2000 in a romance scam.
Brian said the $4000 he lost was all he had in his bank account. He spent it on the paysafecard vouchers after the female scammer with an Asian accent phoned him on his landline about three weeks ago. She told him she was from the BNZ security group and Chinese were scamming his bank account.
And the cost of the vouchers, needed to stop the scamming activity on his account, would later be refunded to him.
‘‘I was mug enough to go along with it,’’ he said.
Over a period of about one week he went to to service stations altogether six times, including Mobil, Z, BP and Caltex, spending $4000 on $100 and $200 paysafecard vouchers.
Disabled since having a stroke four years ago, Brian relies on a mobility scooter to get around town. This meant he needed a taxi for one of the trips, which the scammer called for him and he paid for.
‘‘I was silly enough to tell her what the voucher numbers were, that’s how she sucked money out,’’ Brian said.
The last time the scammer phoned wanting more money, Brian went to his bank and asked the representative if anyone had been trying to get into his bank account. She told him they hadn’t, and that he was being scammed.
Brian said he had learned how easy it was to be scammed a few years ago when his late wife lost about $6000 after a scammer told her she had won some money.
‘‘I thought I was shrewd enough to be ahead of it,’’ Brian said.
He said he had asked the fake bank representative who phoned him if she was a scammer. She said no, he asked for proof. She convinced him when she seemed to know about his bank accounts and knew his late wife’s name. She also name-dropped the name of an Ashburton woman he knew of, and informed him that woman had recently been scammed.
Brian said she was good at building up his trust.
He said he felt ‘‘bloody awful’’ after falling for the scam. He is speaking to The Ashburton Courier in the hope of alerting others.
‘‘Watch out for anybody saying they’re from the bank investigations team,’’ Brian said.
While the $6000 had been recovered by the bank, it appeared the same would not happen this time round for the $4000.
He understood this was because the process of buying the vouchers with his credit card and then giving out the number, he had himself authorised the payment.
The Ashburton woman in her 60s, who warned others in May after losing $15,000, was ultimately able to get the money back through Kiwibank.
A female scammer posing as a Kiwibank representative had contacted her on her cellphone, saying they had noted unusual activity on her account, including a $500 amount to an online gambling company.
She was texted a new code, and read it to the scammer, who was then able to take the money from her two bank accounts.
The Ashburton man who lost $2000 in a romance scam had met a woman calling herself Sonia on a dating app. He bought her Apple gift cards so she could ‘‘keep her kids busy’’ while she visited him, but she never showed up.
Consumer NZ, which has launched a petition to protect scam victims, says research found all New Zealanders are at risk of being scammed, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, income, or educational attainment.
Campaigns manager Jessica Walker said Kiwis were not adequately protected against the growing threat posed by ‘‘these invisible criminals’’.
About $200 million was stolen from scam victims in 2023 alone.
“Scammers and scams have evolved to the point they pose a risk to everyone who uses mobile phones, email addresses, social media accounts or the internet in general,’’ Walker said.
The petition calls for banks to refund scam victims unless the victim has been grossly negligent, a national anti-scam framework requiring banks, telcos and digital platforms to take action against scams, and a centralised anti-scam centre where relevant organisations work together.
The petition can be accessed through the consumer.org.nz website.
