Rae Gill runs Amazing Whale Adventures, a swimming with whales adventure tour company which takes clients to Tonga, Tahiti and Norway.
Her business took a big hit last September when hackers intercepted email traffic between Rae and a Norwegian whale adventures company, and then, posing as the Norwegian company, they persuaded Rae to deposit client funds into the hacker’s account.
Rae lost around $42,000. She’s unlikely to recover the scammed money from either the hackers or the bank - because it was Rae who provided the account details to the bank, the bank did not make a mistake.
Netsafe says this is a sophisticated scam which has taken thousands from Kiwis.
They say if you get an email suggesting you place funds in a different bank account than normal, you must ring the person/business involved and make sure they are genuinely changing accounts.
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