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Police are warning Timaru residents to be aware after more reports of people falling victim to scams.
The number of people falling victim to scammers in the Timaru area has prompted police to issue a warning to the community.
Timaru Response Manager Senior Sergeant Dylan Murray police continue to see local residents falling victim to a variety of scams including online scams involving Facebook Marketplace and phone-based banking scams.
“In relation to Facebook Marketplace, our advice is the same in any situation when using social media to purchase goods or services, you should be vigilant with any transaction.
“Especially if paying money in advance of any transaction, whether it be purchasing goods or services. If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is,” Murray warned.
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He said police were also aware of members of the community receiving calls from people purporting to be from banks and alerting customers to threats against their account.
He said the police had a simple message about this type of offending.
“Do not engage with anyone on the phone who is asking for your assistance to change the likes of a password. Banking organisations will never ask for this type of assistance over the phone.
Bejon Haswell/Stuff
Senior Sergeant Dylan Murray is warning residents to be aware of a variety of scams as residnets of Timaru continue to fall victim to a range of online and banking scams.
“If you think you are being scammed just hang up immediately, you’re not going to offend anyone. And, report the matter to your bank and police.
“If you are in doubt as to the legitimacy of a caller’s identity, ask if you can call them back, or just hang up, and never open any links that are emailed to you by the scammer.”
“One click is all it takes for offenders to have access to your information.”
If you have opened a link that has installed remote access to your computer, make sure the device is shut down, or disconnected from the internet and seek assistance to ensure it is safely removed.
Anyone with concerns should call police via 105, he said.
