News

More New Zealand bank customers slammed by scammers

April 9, 2012

It appears that New Zealand's bankcard fraud woes are not over yet. According to a news report at stuff.co.nz, a new scam appears to have cropped up over the weekend, with thieves using Canadian ATMs to steal money from the accounts of New Zealand bank customers.

The new scam follows hard on the heels of a skimming incident that began in March and resulted in the theft of more than $1 million from approximately 500 customers of New Zealand's ANZ and National Banks. The most recent event involved accounts of customers at BNZ, Westpack and ASB banks in New Zealand, the stuff.com article said.

About 30 bank customers were affected by this weekend's thefts, stuff.com reported. All thefts have occurred at Canadian ATMs. The article further said that it is as yet unclear whether the new scam was enabled through card skimming or another means. It has been determined that the numbers were not skimmed in the previous BNZ crime.

Amounts stolen from customers over the weekend ranged from $300 to $1500. One customer had his business account emptied of $350. His girlfriend told stuff.com that fraudsters had made repeated attempts to access her Westpac account, but the bank had frozen her account before money could be taken.

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