The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) is warning people to be wary of scammers attempting to impersonate the FMA as part of a money transfer scam.
On 5 August, the FMA was contacted by a woman who had tried to transfer a significant amount of money from China to New Zealand, saying she and her family had been “stranded in New Zealand” due to COVID-19 and had needed the money for living expenses.
She said she had seen an advertisement on a community news outlet offering money transfer services, and arranged the transfer via WeChat. The money was sent to a bank in Inner Mongolia.
However, when the money didn’t arrive, the woman was told it had been “frozen” by the FMA due to money laundering suspicions. She was later phoned by a man posing as an FMA official, falsely saying she would have to pay more to release the original sum – which, unfortunately, she did.
Liam Mason, FMA Director of Regulation, said it was a troubling case, targeting those affected by the pandemic, and impersonating a government agency in order to steal more.
“We are trying to ascertain if the scammer is in New Zealand, as they appear to have had some local knowledge, and also if anyone else has been defrauded by them,” Mr Mason said.
He said there are ways that people can protect themselves from scams such as these.
“Be sure to only transfer money through businesses on New Zealand’s Financial Service Providers Register. Don’t fall for the scammers’ line that you must pay more money to release your original funds. And know that the FMA would never freeze money remittance or ask you to pay any money.”
