"Something safer than the sharemarket"

[Habits]

Sad tale of a hardworking now retired female firefighter who fell for the scammers and lost retirement savings.

A timely story with the bear market driving people away from shares to a fixed return. Her goal was to make an investment in "something safer than the sharemarket" which turned out to be anything but.

I personally only deal with well known and on-shore operators but even then I feel I could still be duped. The scammers seem to have covered all their bases with local phone numbers and a perceived structure etc. Not all scams are amateurish type emails.

Stay safe people.

Firefighter's warning after losing life savings to sophisticated bank scam
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...GTGTXQUZ4PFYI/

[Habits]

Sorry - premium content!

The Nelson based firewoman sent $325,000 to NY multinational banking group Citibank or so she thought. The scammers had contacted her through a general online enquiry she made for insurance and investment products and forwarded the bank's own prospectus. A plausible Englishman contacted her several times and required paperwork for AML. She would phone him via an Auckland local number with a receptionist, which could just be a paid answering service, answering the phone Sounds very normal.

[fungus pudding]

Sorry - premium content!

The Nelson based firewoman sent $325,000 to NY multinational banking group Citibank or so she thought. The scammers had contacted her through a general online enquiry she made for insurance and investment products and forwarded the bank's own prospectus. A plausible Englishman contacted her several times and required paperwork for AML. She would phone him via an Auckland local number with a receptionist, which could just be a paid answering service, answering the phone Sounds very normal.

Here is the story:

https://funancial.news/firefighters-...ted-bank-scam/

- like much of Herald's 'premium content' it's often easy to find in another paper. Just copy headline, or sub heading, and paste into google or your favourite search engine.

[Balance]

Sorry - premium content!

The Nelson based firewoman sent $325,000 to NY multinational banking group Citibank or so she thought. The scammers had contacted her through a general online enquiry she made for insurance and investment products and forwarded the bank's own prospectus. A plausible Englishman contacted her several times and required paperwork for AML. She would phone him via an Auckland local number with a receptionist, which could just be a paid answering service, answering the phone Sounds very normal.

Nothing like a posh English accent huh? For an American Bank! Hello!!!!

[Cricketfan]

Nothing like a posh English accent huh? For an American Bank! Hello!!!!

Yeah there's no way a British person could possibly work for an American bank.

[Bjauck]

Nothing like a posh English accent huh? For an American Bank! Hello!!!!

??

I have had an American accent on my big Aussie bank’s NZ number. Should I have contacted the scam department immediately?

$325,000 fire fighter’s pension fund? Even without the other details that is a bit of an indication that she spent much of her working life outside NZ.

[Biscuit]

How come that article is so badly written? It is barely readable. Is the victim a man or a woman? The "reporter" seems to think that him/her and he/she are interchangeable and can be used at random. I'd agree that banks, and insurance companies, have become substantially degraded for customer service now that it is virtually impossible to deal face-to-face with an intelligent, knowledgeable, kiwi, human being.

[JBmurc]

Here is the story:

https://funancial.news/firefighters-...ted-bank-scam/

- like much of Herald's 'premium content' it's often easy to find in another paper. Just copy headline, or sub heading, and paste into google or your favourite search engine.

Geeez all for a few point higher than NZ deposit rates .... all of her savings because the Sharemarket was so risky ?? she should have come on here to ST least ask the Question about finding a good safer return .. diversity #1 safety she could have got in the sharemarket Vs one Oversea savings account ...

[troyvdh]

JB...with all due respect....Which planet are you on.Most kiwis are deeply suspicious and weary of the SM.
I have in recent times been in the company of those who just left a high decile high school in chch and asked what their knowledge was of credit cards...mortgages....et al..
I may well have been speaking ...Swaili or Finnish as far as they were concerned.

[Cricketfan]

How come that article is so badly written? It is barely readable. Is the victim a man or a woman? The "reporter" seems to think that him/her and he/she are interchangeable and can be used at random.

I'm no fan of The Herald, but I didn't find it hard to read, and it was clear the victim was a woman (I was skim reading, admittedly). Do you have examples of when they got the gender wrong or other parts that were badly written?