BE “ON PATROL” FOR SCAMS
Age Concern has joined with the ANZ bank to raise awareness of scams and advise on how to identify and deal with them.
They have brought back a CHiPs TV star (Erik Estrada) to encourage Kiwis to be ‘on patrol’ and take more sceptical approach to scams as tactics scammers use keep evolving
ANZ research shows 69% of over 65s are confident or very confident when it comes to spotting or avoiding scams. Even so, Age Concern and ANZ want to remind people to that scams and scammer tactics are constantly evolving to target Kiwis.
The aim is to remind people they have the right to hang-up, say no, and reject calls, texts and emails from people they don’t know. In fact, you can be quite rude to them before you hang up.
Erik Estrada, popularly known as Ponch, was a mainstay on Kiwi TV screens for his portrayal of a California Highway Patrol motorcycle cop. It’s this familiarity that Age Concern and ANZ hope will encourage Kiwis to take notice of the types of scams currently out there and what they can do to avoid them.
ANZ has supported Age Concern to deliver digital literacy, “Tea & Tech” programmes across communities to increase confidence online, and now, with bringing back CHiPs, there is a scam awareness training guide, scam academy website, and toolkits for Age Concern centres.
ANZ reported the basic type of scams, like phishing, cold call or impersonation scams, romance or investment scams, remain similar over time but what tends to change is how these scams are presented to look legitimate.
For more information see https://www.acwellington.org.nz/scam-prevention/