Financial Crime World

Financial Crime Cases in New Zealand: A Growing Concern

The Rise of Financial Crimes in a Digital Age

A report by the Ministry of Justice has highlighted a pressing concern for New Zealand’s economic health, as scams account for 0.5 per cent of the country’s GDP.

The Alarming Numbers

  • Only 15 per cent of people manage to reclaim all their lost funds.
  • There were 510,000 offences between November 2021 and November 2022, a significant increase from 288,000 between 2020 and 2021.
  • Fraud is now the most common type of offence overall.

The Most Common Types of Offences

  • Fraud: relating to the use or attempted use of bank/credit cards and fraud which relates to victims being tricked into giving money or a service.
  • Online and Phone Scams: the large majority of fraud and deception offences, approximately 84 per cent, occur online or over the phone.

Repeat Victims

  • 55,000 people make up 11 per cent of all scam victims.

Underreported Crimes

  • People report around 25 per cent of offences to the police.
  • Fraud and cybercrime appear to be the least reported, at 6.5 per cent.

Reasons for Not Reporting

  • Victims were significantly less likely to have reported the offence to the police because their bank or credit card company took care of it, or they reported it to another authority.

Police Response

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) found major deficiencies in police responses to scam complaints. IPCA chair Judge Colin Doherty said that the 2022 report was initiated following several complaints about the way police handled fraud complaints.

“The authority has found that the police response to fraud falls well short of victims’ expectations and is failing to meet the challenges that the present fraud landscape poses,” he said.

Recommendations

  • The IPCA recommended that police lead the development of a national strategy to prevent and investigate financial crime.
  • The authority also suggested that the police service develop a framework for addressing complaints about the handling of fraud cases.

Addressing Financial Crime

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) focuses on complex fraud, bribery or corruption. However, most individual scam cases do not fit the criteria threshold for the SFO to investigate.

  • The SFO receives around 900-1000 complaints annually, many of which were more appropriately dealt with by other agencies.
  • Financial crime is increasing in both scale and complexity, driven by rapidly evolving technology and more permeable global borders.

What You Can Do

  • If you believe you are or have been the victim of fraud, contact police at 105.police.govt.nz or call police on 105.
  • Be cautious when dealing with unfamiliar organisations or individuals, especially those who contact you out of the blue.