Alexander (Sandy) Milne

On Monday, a friend of mine told me that he had just been the victim of an intended scam.

He had received what he thought was a genuine email from his own bank, and he had passed over his account details, then checked his account and realised that $500 had already been drawn. Fortunately, he rang the bank right away and they blocked the transaction.

My friend is a retired medical professional, yet he let his guard down and almost paid the price.

Last week, I received an email from the NZ Transport Agency advising me that my registration was overdue and that if I clicked the link, the problem could be fixed online.

I knew it was a scam attempt, because I had re-registered a month earlier.  Of interest is that I received an identical scam attempt one week earlier on what appeared to be a genuine Waka Kotahi form.

We get continual reminders to beware of email or phone scam attempts, yet some of us still get conned.

Does anyone have advice for Beacon readers on how to be on constant alert regarding these crooks?