Niue police warn of email scam

Transcript

The police in Niue are warning residents against replying to scam emails from strangers asking for banking and personal details.

Niue's chief of police, Tony Edwards, says there have been reports of scammers sending emails to people in Niue asking them to provide personal information and send money overseas.

He told Leilani Momoisea that these types of scams are a common problem in the Pacific.

Tony Edwards : Because we're pretty far away in the Pacific, if you're getting people writing to you and they're from somewhere they're not even aware of, and they don't even know these places or even think about going to these places, then simply it's a scam. That's why we've taught people, or we've made aware, when you're getting scammers from places where you're not aware of, or you've never been before, then simply you shouldn't reply. We've made this aware to the community, so that they're fully aware of how to tell or recognise whether the emails that they've received or messages they've received are genuine.

Leilani Momoisea : Why do you think people are targeting Niue.

Tony Edwards : I think because Niue is an isolated place, it's on its own and it's pretty much untouched, so a lot of people would try to use Niue as an access point to do any sort of criminal activities and that's one of them.

Leilani Momoisea : Is it usually trying to get them to send money via the internet, or are they trying to make them go to the banks and make bank transfers, that sort of thing?

Tony Edwards : Yeah most of the requests are to provide their bank details so that they could put money through. So they're not using our banks, they're just basically asking for personal details of persons over here.

Leilani Momoisea : Has anyone lost money as a result of this?

Tony Edwards : To my knowledge, we haven't had any reports reported, but we have had people come in and sort of report whether these emails they're receiving are genuine or fake.

Leilani Momoisea : What is the message to people who may come across these emails?

Tony Edwards : The simple message is, if you're getting these kind of scam emails from places where you've never been or you've never had a chance to go to, then the question is, why would you respond? So what we're telling people is, don't respond, just let us know but don't attempt to respond to them and giving them details. People just need to be sensible, people need to recognise and identify these kinds of activities and if they're unsure they need to report those activities happening to the police, rather than taking it upon themselves.

Tony Edwards says the police undergo awareness programmes through the schools and community meetings.