June 25, 2025 ā¢ 22 mins
š§Episode Description:
When NZ Post Texted Me: My Scam Story & 10 Ways to Stay Safe
In this candid episode of Soft Landing NZ, I open up about the first scam that caught me off guard soon after arriving in New Zealand. From a convincing āNZ Postā text demanding I pay a small delivery fee, to the moment I realized Iād been scammed out of $1000, youāll hear the full story of how I fell victim, what went wrong, and how it felt discovering Iād been duped.
I share 10 practical tips you can use right now to protect yourself and your family (whÄnau).
https://www.actnowstaysecure.gov.au/cyber-safe-actionsĀ
šĀ 10 Scam-Proofing Tips
-
Verify the Sender: Always check the official domain or phone number before replying.
-
Never Tap Unexpected Links: Go directly to the organisationās website or app instead.
-
Watch for Urgent Threats: Scammers use fear; genuine services donāt demand immediate payment.
-
Inspect URLs Carefully: Hover on desktop or press-and-hold on mobile to preview the real address.
-
Enable 2FA Everywhere: A second factor stops scammers even if they get your password.
-
Use Official Apps: Download NZ Post, AT, and bank apps only from trusted app stores.
-
Block & Report: Forward suspicious texts and report to orginisation they impersonating.
-
Keep Software Updated: Patch operating systems and antivirus to close security holes.
-
Limit Personal Info on Social Media: Scammers often mine your profiles for clues.
-
Educate Your Family: Share these tips with family and friends to build a scam-aware community.
š Listen now on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts, and take control of your online safety in New Zealand.
šŗ YouTube Channel: @softlandingnz
šļø Soft Landing NZāMaking New Zealand Home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
There are over 100,000 people whoimmigrate to New Zealand every year with
the intention to make New Zealand theirhome, leaving behind everything they
know as normal day-to-day life and havingto learn new ways of doing things, new
norms, new cultures, and different values.
There are many people who struggle withthis transition and find it challenging
(00:25):
to adjust and settle so they cancall and make New Zealand their home.
The purpose of this podcast is for meto share my journey and our challenges
with the hope that you can learn from meand my family and have a softer landing.
There will be good days and baddays, but with time, more good days.
I believe we have made theright choice for our family.
(00:47):
I want to try and help you do the same.
But hopefully with a softer landing.
This is soft landing, and Iam your host, Brett Collette.
Welcome to this podcast, designed foranyone thinking about preparing for, or
who has just immigrated to New Zealand.
Subscribe now so you never miss an episodedrawing from his personal experience.
(01:09):
This series will guide you throughthe process of preparing for your
move and helping you navigatethe challenges of immigration.
Hello everybody.
It's so nice to have you back andjoining me again on my podcast.
I just wanted to first start off andjust really thank you guys for those
that have been listening to my podcast.
It's really humbling and I'm sograteful to know that so many people
(01:34):
are finding what I'm putting out there.
On social media as valuable.
I've got some feedback from some peopleon either the comments or they've sent
me a message and they've just thankedme for, the podcast and just told me
how it is helping and I just can'tthank you enough for that feedback.
it's not an easy thing to do and it'staken a bit of getting used to, trying
(01:58):
to record your voice and some of thevideo content I'm doing on YouTube, it's.
It's very different for me.
I think I'm getting a bit better and usedto it, it, it is not an easy thing to do.
So to get that feedback from you guysand that encouragement, it really
motivates me and I'm really humbled andI just really wanted to thank you guys
for taking the time to actually listento my podcast and view my content.
(02:20):
And then also just taking the timeto give me some feedback, even
if it's feedback that there's.
Different content I need to addor different things I need to do.
I really, appreciate it and I just wantedto thank you so much, for, listening.
And for those of you that haven'tlistened to me before and you're joining
today for the first time, welcome.
and I do ask go back to, to episode one.
(02:42):
listen to the podcastin chronological order.
it also just, it makes ita bit better to understand.
Or, get to know me and who I am and whyI'm sharing what I'm sharing, and why
even listen to, the content that, thatand the information that I'm giving.
So it does make sense if yougo back to number one and
watching a chronological order.
(03:03):
But for today, one of the thingsthat I wanted to share today, it,
it's getting a little bit on mysoapbox today, and I'll explain why.
so I've started.
Probably in around of a April this year.
So it's only been about two and abit months where I've started trying
this social media thing, launchinga podcast, trying to put content on.
My, my YouTube channel and Instagram andTikTok and figuring it all out and trying
(03:28):
to get information out there to try andhelp as many immigrants as possible.
But what it has also attractedis those scammers and those
fraud, fraud is out there, man.
The amount of people in thislast past week that have
tried to catch me out, I had.
Somebody that sent me a message, a DM,and trying to tell me that it was from
(03:50):
Meta, which is part of Facebook, andthey're offering me a remote position, job
where I can work remotely in my own timeand make extra money and whatever else.
but I'm need to click on this link andshare information and whatever else.
Total scam.
trying to catch you out and I promise you.
Being an immigrant, I'm lucky enough,I've at least been here a little while.
(04:12):
I'm settled and I got my job andwhatever, but I know when you've just
moved here as a family and maybe one,of the partners is, working when the
relationship is working and the otherone is looking for something just to
help, it's easy to, click on those linksfor people that are trying to approach
you for a remote job and whatever else.
It's, important to you.
(04:33):
You're trying to find anything justto help with income in the family.
So you think, oh, this sounds so good.
So sometimes those things that soundtoo good are, too good to be true.
But it just reminded me how they're,yeah, man, they're out there and they're
really trying to catch you out and yougotta be on, guard all the time and
just be, have your wits about yourself.
and it reminded me.
(04:55):
That back in the beginningwhen we first moved here.
and it's for, I, believe it'd be the samefor any immigrants that have just moved.
It is so stressful the first few months tothe first year of being in a new country.
There's so many things.
that's what my podcast is all about.
My content is all about is how we dealand wade through this immigration thing.
immigration is not for sissies.
This is a tough thing to get through andwith all that stress and everything that's
(05:20):
going on when you're busy immigrating.
Sometimes your guard is down andyou just, you're so stressed out,
you miss those little things and youcan get caught by these scanners.
I know that, I'm trying tothink timelines, but it was
definitely within our first year.
It might have even beenin the first six months.
I'm trying to think.
It was when we hadapplied for our residency.
So we were lucky thatwhen we arrived here.
(05:43):
Two a bit years ago, in, in theend of January, beginning of
Feb, we were on the green list.
So we came across on a work visa.
But as we landed, we went and applied,I think it was like a couple of months
in, so maybe four or five months in.
We applied for our residency 'cause wequalified to apply for the residency.
Now part of applying for yourresidency is you have to.
(06:04):
Post off your passports.
so you, you use New Zealandpost to actually post off
your passports to immigration.
So I must tell you, first off, beinga South African, you're already where
you think, oh my goodness, I gottaactually send my, passports in like
public postal system, the state's postsystem and the New Zealand post system.
(06:25):
Geez, what if somebody steals my passportsand they're not gonna have my passports?
That was like a nightmare in itself.
I must tell you.
That was taking, you were reallytrying to work out is this
really the way they wanna do it?
Is this, Okay.
Anyway, I can assure you that itworked and it was all fine and we
did have to send off our passports.
But when we sent off our passports to NewZealand, to immigration with New Zealand
(06:45):
post in that, week or two, and you werewaiting for them to obviously receive your
passports, do whatever checks they haveto, and then they send it back to you.
I got a text message and it was fromNew Zealand Post, and it was telling
me that I needed to click on this linkor whatever to pay some or other fee.
And the first thing that pops in yourmind is, oh geez, those passports
(07:07):
that I was worried about, that Iknow I've sent, oh crap, I better pay
this because I don't want to lose my,my, my passports or whatever else.
And.
Obviously with all the other stressesand everything that's going on, and you
don't know how it works with New ZealandPost, you haven't used them often enough.
you're new to the country, they'repreying on us immigrants as people
that don't know and that we arestressed out and whatever else.
(07:31):
pardon?
Sorry.
Getting over a bit of a cough andbeing sick in the last week or so.
Anyway, so I was worried and Iclicked on the Blim Blimming link
and I ended up giving them my detailsand whatever, and I got scammed.
So they ended up taking off a thousanddollars off of my BNZ account and I,
promise you, I could have kicked myself.
(07:52):
I was so embarrassed and I wasalso, so I upset with myself
for just not being, oh my God.
especially being fromSouth Africa, you get.
Fraudsters and everything all the time.
Maybe in South Africa it's a differenttype of scams and frauds that you get.
Not as many on text andeverything like that.
So it was something I wasn't familiarwith, but either way my God was down
(08:14):
and I was worried about our passportsand it was all perfect timing.
It's like they just knew that,
I was using New Zealand post,it was with my passport.
It was the perfect timeto send me this test.
So it was a text 'causeit was all related.
Clicked on the damn thing.
Stupidly gave my information and got athousand dollars taken off my account.
(08:35):
I did notice straight away, so I didcontact the bank straight away, told
them, Hey, I've done this mistake.
I phoned, I looked up the fraud numberfor the bank, phoned them straight
away, said, Hey, this is the issue.
This is what I've done, whatever else.
they look on their account.
They say, look, it's still in a pendingstate, so there's nothing they can
do right now straight away when it'sin a pending state for that thousand
(08:57):
dollars to come off your account.
So what they do is theyhand it over to fraud.
They give you a fraud case number, theydo open it up and everything like that.
And they said it'll take 24 hoursbefore they actually get, it
registered with a fraud department.
So within 24 hours they did do that.
They even gave me their number tofollow up with within 24 hours the next
morning if I didn't receive feedback.
But they were really good.
(09:18):
so I didn't even have tophone them within 24 hours.
They actually contacted me.
They let me know that they'veopened up the fraud case and they
were busy investigating and thenthe money does go off your account.
And then what happened?
It probably took them about.
Plus minus a week.
And I was grateful and thankfulthat they were actually able to
get me my a thousand dollars back.
But you were out of pocket for athousand dollars for that week and now.
(09:41):
I can tell you a thousand dollars is ahell of a lot of money, especially when
you first just arrived here and you'reliving off of one salary or one income,
and then you do something so stupid toget caught out to lose a thousand dollars.
Oh, I was kicking myself, I promise you.
But again, very grateful thatI got it back within a week.
I think I'm sharing this justto tell you that it does happen.
(10:02):
So you gotta be on your guard.
I know another friend of ours,he, also arrived, and he also got
caught by the same sort of thing.
And again, it was also with NewZealand Post and it was a text as well.
So it, these guys are cleverand they were informed.
They got information, they got access.
it's like they time it, Idunno, but you just gotta be so
careful and top of your game.
(10:23):
Don't click on just any links.
Another one that I got was also when we.
Not only the, with the, New Zealand Postand timing with us setting up passports,
but we started, it was also within thefirst year and we started saying, okay,
let's travel round a little bit and getto know our new country a little bit.
So we started on the long weekends,just traveling a little bit north
of where we stay, like a two hourdrive north or west or wherever
(10:45):
else to get to know the country.
And there were some tollsthat we had to go through.
So you saw that there were tolls andyou were paying the tolls and whatever.
Within a week of us doing that travelagain, I got a text and it said
it was from New Zealand Transport.
and again, click on this link.
You've gotta pay this fee and whatever,trying to catch you out again.
Again, not valid, butit's like they knew that.
(11:07):
I had just done traveling.
So you, almost think, oh,the timing is perfect.
It is something, and you don't wanna dosomething wrong being a new immigrant,
so you don't wanna be caught up.
You don't know how things work here.
You know that in New Zealand, Ilearned in New Zealand things are
more digital, they are more online.
There are these different fees thatyou're not used to and whatever else.
So you don't, you wanna be compliant,you don't wanna do something wrong.
(11:29):
And I almost clicked on that one too.
Luckily, my wife is startingto teach me, she's brilliant.
She works for a cybersecurity companyand she said, so even more embarrassing,
my wife is in cybersecurity and toldme to be aware of these things and here
I still go click on the BLI and linkand get caught for a thousand dollars.
Anyway, she started teachingme a lot better and things
that you need to look out for.
But tho those scammers are out here,I found maybe moving to New Zealand.
(11:53):
There's different scams.
I can only talk back to South Africa.
There were a lot of differentscammers and ways to try catch
you out and whatever else.
Back then, I'm not gonna go intoall of that, but one of the things
I found here in New Zealand isthere's a lot of texts, scams.
So they, send you a lot of texts abouta lot of things to try, click on links
and whatever else to try catch you out.
And I can just think back to when I washere in my first year and the stress
(12:15):
that you're going through, your guardis down and they do take advantage.
And it's not only once you've beentaken advantage of, it's how you feel.
You feel stupid and you feel embarrassedto try and report it and, speak up.
'cause you're, oh, what have I done?
I should know better.
and then you're angrywith yourself as well.
And also knowing that money is so tight.
for most of us, the money is really tightand you think, oh, what am I gonna do?
(12:35):
And it's extra stress.
So it, they really do take advantage.
So the whole reason I'm sharing thisstory with you is please just be vigilant.
Be careful.
There are fraudsters here.
New Zealand is a beautiful countryto me, and I'm so grateful to be
here, but I don't think any countryis immune to some sort of crime.
and unfortunately here, they do takeadvantage o of people that are vulnerable,
(13:01):
be it the elderly or Beit US immigrants.
They do try to take advantage to tryand get, take our money, It does happen.
I'll share the others.
Maybe not as relevant to you guys.
I started sharing with the, social mediasince I've started posting content and
yes, there was their job offer, butthey've also started direct messaging me
(13:21):
and trying to tell me that they're gonna.
Shut down my social mediapages and whatever else.
If I don't validate something in X periodof time, they're gonna delete the pages.
Click on this link,share this information.
I promise you they try everythingthey can to get hold of you,
and take you for a ride.
I think I really just wanted to sharewith you that it does happen, especially
(13:44):
when you're in your first year of beinghere, when you're going through so
much and you're really stressed out,be vigilant, be careful, especially
with text, direct messages, emails.
Don't click on any linksor anything like that.
May maybe I'll share the 10 different or10 tips to try and just be aware of to,
to help you stay on top of your game.
Okay, so just.
(14:06):
Always verify who the sender is that'ssending you the message, be it a text
message or be it an email, whatever else.
And when I say verify, if it's like fromNew Zealand Toast, toast, New Zealand Post
or Auckland Transport or whatever else.
Go check the actual domain.
So the address that it's comingfrom, sometimes it's suspect if
(14:27):
it's not their official address.
And do a little bit of homeworkbefore you click on them, the
links or anything like that.
Go look on their officialwebsite yourself.
Don't click on their link.
Go look up their actual website yourselfand see, okay, what is their address?
Is it NZ post co nz?
Okay, so now go back to themessage and see, is it valid?
look at the number that the, Thatis actually sending you the text.
(14:49):
If it's a plus six four, thenyou know it's at least local, so
it's a potential of being real.
But if it's from a plus 55 orany other part of the world,
that's already a huge red flag.
So don't, click on those.
So really try and alwaysverify who the sender is.
don't click on suspicious links.
Okay?
If there's a link in there, inthe text or the email or whatever
(15:12):
else, don't click on them.
hover over the URL or hover over theemail address and see what comes up.
Okay?
So maybe it says thatit's whatever at, nz.
Post or gov or whatever.
That sounds right, but when youhover over it, it sometimes tells
you a different address or adifferent link that it's going to.
(15:34):
already, that's another redflag, so be very careful.
Urgency.
They like the ones that I've got.
They always try build up thisurgency that if you don't click on
this now, you're gonna get a fine.
If you don't click on this now and verifythis account, it's gonna get deleted.
If you don't pay us this moneynow, you won't get your parcel
(15:55):
or it won't be shipped wherever.
So they really try create thatsense of urgency and worry in you.
So you think, oh crap,okay, I gotta get this done.
so, be careful of that.
Look for typos and grammar.
Now I know I don't pay attentionto detail, and this is something
my wife constantly tells me about.
She's like a sticklerfor attention to detail.
Go check the actual grammar, checkthe wording, check the, layout.
(16:18):
if they've got three differentexclamation marks that you respond by ex
or whatever, this is gonna be deleted.
Banks and professionalorganizations, they don't.
Talk like that and type like that.
It's just not the way they word things.
So just be careful and look out forthose, things on your accounts that
you've got, be it your, social mediaaccounts, your email accounts, wherever
(16:41):
you can set up two factor authentication.
Set it up.
And get it in place.
It just safeguards you a little bit.
So God forbid they get yourpassword or whatever else.
At least you've got that in placeto try and protect yourself.
So try make sure that's set upon as many counts as possible.
try and look at, mention thedomain, so just make sure that
(17:03):
the domain address is correct.
so, check, the domains also checkthat it's potentially from an h tt
PS, so it's a secure account that it'sactually, location that it's coming from.
Don't, share any information onany emails or direct messages
if they start asking you for.
ID photos or copies of passportsor your birthdate or, IRD
(17:29):
numbers don't share any of that.
Okay?
Rather what you do is, if it's comingfrom your bank and a asking for
that sort of thing, don't click onany of the links in that email or
that message that they've given you.
Go verify on the official bank's websiteor via your actual app on your phone that
you've used to log into the official app.
Banking app, go look up the contactt details and contact them directly
(17:51):
from your own information, not theinformation they've provided, and
contact them and say, Hey, you've gotthis message, you've got this email.
What is this all about?
And see that it's actually officialand real before you share anything.
'cause generally banks will notask you to share that sort of
stuff on email and stuff like that.
They don't ask for that.
That's not the way they do things.
It's not secure, it's not safe.
So don't share anything,that's official on anything.
(18:14):
And that means not only sharingit as attachment and emails.
Even clicking on a link andputting in your details.
Don't put in your IRDnumber, your birth dates.
they capture that information to tryand personate you, so that they can use
you, your information to potentially dosomething else, maybe apply for credit.
All kinds of things.
These guys are ridiculous, okay?
So be, you have to be on your guard.
(18:36):
If you do see anything that issuspicious, report it, block the accounts,
report it to whoever it is, be it.
your banks, Al Beit, the postoffice, or be it, New Zealand,
transport agencies or whoever it is.
Go back to the official supplier andlet them know, Hey, this is fraudulent.
This is what I received, whatever else.
(18:56):
So they can try and also try andhelp prevent it from affecting
other people, but at the veryleast, at least block it on your.
Make sure that your phone's, up to dateon all its, its software, et cetera.
Your, laptops have got the latestantivirus and everything updated.
So, that at least you'reprotected as much as possible.
So try to keep that in mind as well.
And then lastly, just try, sharewith your family, your friends, any,
(19:20):
what I'm trying to do now with all,
Potential people that theycould take advantage of.
So in my case, I'm trying to share withany immigrants to try to learn from me.
Don't do the same thing thatI did, but also share with any
friends that are coming across orany family members talk about it.
I know as hard as it is, and as.
If it has happened to you.
it's embarrassing, man.
Geez, you don't want to admit to beingsuch a bloody idiot and losing money
(19:42):
and whatever, but I, it just showsyou, it can happen to anyone, but try
and talk about it and educate yourfriends and your, communities and your
network and tell them, Hey, be vigilant.
Be careful of these sort of things.
so yeah, that's really whatI wanted to share today.
So it's not a. a hugely long podcastor anything today, but it's just
something that I'm on my soapbox aboutbecause I've been bombarded this week
(20:03):
because I've been trying to get my,social content out there, and I've
just seen how these scammers are tryingto catch me out and who knows what
they wanna do with my details, and itjust reminded me of when I got here.
How I got scammed, on textmessages and stuff like that.
I just wanted to remind you guys,for those of you that are about to
come across here or have just landedhere in country, I know it's hugely
(20:25):
stressful and there's so much going on.
The last thing you wanna dois also be caught out by some
fricking scammer or, fraudster.
that is gonna take your money.
So just be vigilant, think about thesethings that I've shared, to just try,
don't be caught out, so that it's oneless thing that you have to worry about.
So on that note, I just wanted to,again, thank you guys for listening.
(20:47):
I hope this is, of value.
Share it with anybody else.
Get the message out there to asmany immigrants as possible so they
don't get caught out on this sort ofthing, but also just share with them.
So that all the content that I'm sharing,if it can try and help, them with their
move across here, the whole point isI'm trying to help all immigrants settle
and have a softer landing than what wedid so we can make New Zealand home.
(21:10):
that, that's really thewhole intention here.
share, share this, podcast.
But also, if you can go to my YouTubechannel, it's at Soft landing nz,
subscribe, turn on your notifications.
it'll let you know when I've putany new content on so you don't
miss anything and follow me.
And again, just thanksguys for joining me today.
(21:31):
It's a short one today.
I, have got two podcasts comingup that I'm very excited about.
the one is going to be, andboth of them are interviews.
So I started my first interviewwith my wife last week.
so that, that was my, learningcurve on how to do interviews.
So hopefully that wasn't, too bad, butI'm gonna be interviewing two friends.
One friend I went to school with back inSouth Africa, and he's gonna share his
(21:53):
story and the challenges he's had, which.
Awesome.
Which he's gonna be sharing particularlyaround, getting a DUI, which I'm
oh, I cannot believe how courageoushe is to share his story, but
that's gonna be a really good one.
And then there's another friendof ours, that I actually used
to work with many years back.
I think we said it was like 12 yearsago, maybe more back in South Africa, and
(22:14):
how he's moved across here with a familyof five and has done so extremely well.
And you think I had a hard start.
Geez, he had one hell of a hard start.
So I'm excited about those two.
So keep a lookout for those two podcaststhat are gonna be coming soon in July.
But yes, that's, me today.
I hope you all keep well, keepsafe and we'll speak to you soon.
Cheers.
There are over 100,000 people whoimmigrate to New Zealand every year with
the intention to make New Zealand theirhome, leaving behind everything they
know as normal day-to-day life and havingto learn new ways of doing things, new
norms, new cultures, and different values.
There are many people who struggle withthis transition and find it challenging
(00:25):
to adjust and settle so they cancall and make New Zealand their home.
The purpose of this podcast is for meto share my journey and our challenges
with the hope that you can learn from meand my family and have a softer landing.
There will be good days and baddays, but with time, more good days.
I believe we have made theright choice for our family.
(00:47):
I want to try and help you do the same.
But hopefully with a softer landing.
This is soft landing, and Iam your host, Brett Collette.
Welcome to this podcast, designed foranyone thinking about preparing for, or
who has just immigrated to New Zealand.
Subscribe now so you never miss an episodedrawing from his personal experience.
(01:09):
This series will guide you throughthe process of preparing for your
move and helping you navigatethe challenges of immigration.
Hello everybody.
It's so nice to have you back andjoining me again on my podcast.
I just wanted to first start off andjust really thank you guys for those
that have been listening to my podcast.
It's really humbling and I'm sograteful to know that so many people
(01:34):
are finding what I'm putting out there.
On social media as valuable.
I've got some feedback from some peopleon either the comments or they've sent
me a message and they've just thankedme for, the podcast and just told me
how it is helping and I just can'tthank you enough for that feedback.
it's not an easy thing to do and it'staken a bit of getting used to, trying
(01:58):
to record your voice and some of thevideo content I'm doing on YouTube, it's.
It's very different for me.
I think I'm getting a bit better and usedto it, it, it is not an easy thing to do.
So to get that feedback from you guysand that encouragement, it really
motivates me and I'm really humbled andI just really wanted to thank you guys
for taking the time to actually listento my podcast and view my content.
(02:20):
And then also just taking the timeto give me some feedback, even
if it's feedback that there's.
Different content I need to addor different things I need to do.
I really, appreciate it and I just wantedto thank you so much, for, listening.
And for those of you that haven'tlistened to me before and you're joining
today for the first time, welcome.
and I do ask go back to, to episode one.
(02:42):
listen to the podcastin chronological order.
it also just, it makes ita bit better to understand.
Or, get to know me and who I am and whyI'm sharing what I'm sharing, and why
even listen to, the content that, thatand the information that I'm giving.
So it does make sense if yougo back to number one and
watching a chronological order.
(03:03):
But for today, one of the thingsthat I wanted to share today, it,
it's getting a little bit on mysoapbox today, and I'll explain why.
so I've started.
Probably in around of a April this year.
So it's only been about two and abit months where I've started trying
this social media thing, launchinga podcast, trying to put content on.
My, my YouTube channel and Instagram andTikTok and figuring it all out and trying
(03:28):
to get information out there to try andhelp as many immigrants as possible.
But what it has also attractedis those scammers and those
fraud, fraud is out there, man.
The amount of people in thislast past week that have
tried to catch me out, I had.
Somebody that sent me a message, a DM,and trying to tell me that it was from
(03:50):
Meta, which is part of Facebook, andthey're offering me a remote position, job
where I can work remotely in my own timeand make extra money and whatever else.
but I'm need to click on this link andshare information and whatever else.
Total scam.
trying to catch you out and I promise you.
Being an immigrant, I'm lucky enough,I've at least been here a little while.
(04:12):
I'm settled and I got my job andwhatever, but I know when you've just
moved here as a family and maybe one,of the partners is, working when the
relationship is working and the otherone is looking for something just to
help, it's easy to, click on those linksfor people that are trying to approach
you for a remote job and whatever else.
It's, important to you.
(04:33):
You're trying to find anything justto help with income in the family.
So you think, oh, this sounds so good.
So sometimes those things that soundtoo good are, too good to be true.
But it just reminded me how they're,yeah, man, they're out there and they're
really trying to catch you out and yougotta be on, guard all the time and
just be, have your wits about yourself.
and it reminded me.
(04:55):
That back in the beginningwhen we first moved here.
and it's for, I, believe it'd be the samefor any immigrants that have just moved.
It is so stressful the first few months tothe first year of being in a new country.
There's so many things.
that's what my podcast is all about.
My content is all about is how we dealand wade through this immigration thing.
immigration is not for sissies.
This is a tough thing to get through andwith all that stress and everything that's
(05:20):
going on when you're busy immigrating.
Sometimes your guard is down andyou just, you're so stressed out,
you miss those little things and youcan get caught by these scanners.
I know that, I'm trying tothink timelines, but it was
definitely within our first year.
It might have even beenin the first six months.
I'm trying to think.
It was when we hadapplied for our residency.
So we were lucky thatwhen we arrived here.
(05:43):
Two a bit years ago, in, in theend of January, beginning of
Feb, we were on the green list.
So we came across on a work visa.
But as we landed, we went and applied,I think it was like a couple of months
in, so maybe four or five months in.
We applied for our residency 'cause wequalified to apply for the residency.
Now part of applying for yourresidency is you have to.
(06:04):
Post off your passports.
so you, you use New Zealandpost to actually post off
your passports to immigration.
So I must tell you, first off, beinga South African, you're already where
you think, oh my goodness, I gottaactually send my, passports in like
public postal system, the state's postsystem and the New Zealand post system.
(06:25):
Geez, what if somebody steals my passportsand they're not gonna have my passports?
That was like a nightmare in itself.
I must tell you.
That was taking, you were reallytrying to work out is this
really the way they wanna do it?
Is this, Okay.
Anyway, I can assure you that itworked and it was all fine and we
did have to send off our passports.
But when we sent off our passports to NewZealand, to immigration with New Zealand
(06:45):
post in that, week or two, and you werewaiting for them to obviously receive your
passports, do whatever checks they haveto, and then they send it back to you.
I got a text message and it was fromNew Zealand Post, and it was telling
me that I needed to click on this linkor whatever to pay some or other fee.
And the first thing that pops in yourmind is, oh geez, those passports
(07:07):
that I was worried about, that Iknow I've sent, oh crap, I better pay
this because I don't want to lose my,my, my passports or whatever else.
And.
Obviously with all the other stressesand everything that's going on, and you
don't know how it works with New ZealandPost, you haven't used them often enough.
you're new to the country, they'repreying on us immigrants as people
that don't know and that we arestressed out and whatever else.
(07:31):
pardon?
Sorry.
Getting over a bit of a cough andbeing sick in the last week or so.
Anyway, so I was worried and Iclicked on the Blim Blimming link
and I ended up giving them my detailsand whatever, and I got scammed.
So they ended up taking off a thousanddollars off of my BNZ account and I,
promise you, I could have kicked myself.
(07:52):
I was so embarrassed and I wasalso, so I upset with myself
for just not being, oh my God.
especially being fromSouth Africa, you get.
Fraudsters and everything all the time.
Maybe in South Africa it's a differenttype of scams and frauds that you get.
Not as many on text andeverything like that.
So it was something I wasn't familiarwith, but either way my God was down
(08:14):
and I was worried about our passportsand it was all perfect timing.
It's like they just knew that,
I was using New Zealand post,it was with my passport.
It was the perfect timeto send me this test.
So it was a text 'causeit was all related.
Clicked on the damn thing.
Stupidly gave my information and got athousand dollars taken off my account.
(08:35):
I did notice straight away, so I didcontact the bank straight away, told
them, Hey, I've done this mistake.
I phoned, I looked up the fraud numberfor the bank, phoned them straight
away, said, Hey, this is the issue.
This is what I've done, whatever else.
they look on their account.
They say, look, it's still in a pendingstate, so there's nothing they can
do right now straight away when it'sin a pending state for that thousand
(08:57):
dollars to come off your account.
So what they do is theyhand it over to fraud.
They give you a fraud case number, theydo open it up and everything like that.
And they said it'll take 24 hoursbefore they actually get, it
registered with a fraud department.
So within 24 hours they did do that.
They even gave me their number tofollow up with within 24 hours the next
morning if I didn't receive feedback.
But they were really good.
(09:18):
so I didn't even have tophone them within 24 hours.
They actually contacted me.
They let me know that they'veopened up the fraud case and they
were busy investigating and thenthe money does go off your account.
And then what happened?
It probably took them about.
Plus minus a week.
And I was grateful and thankfulthat they were actually able to
get me my a thousand dollars back.
But you were out of pocket for athousand dollars for that week and now.
(09:41):
I can tell you a thousand dollars is ahell of a lot of money, especially when
you first just arrived here and you'reliving off of one salary or one income,
and then you do something so stupid toget caught out to lose a thousand dollars.
Oh, I was kicking myself, I promise you.
But again, very grateful thatI got it back within a week.
I think I'm sharing this justto tell you that it does happen.
(10:02):
So you gotta be on your guard.
I know another friend of ours,he, also arrived, and he also got
caught by the same sort of thing.
And again, it was also with NewZealand Post and it was a text as well.
So it, these guys are cleverand they were informed.
They got information, they got access.
it's like they time it, Idunno, but you just gotta be so
careful and top of your game.
(10:23):
Don't click on just any links.
Another one that I got was also when we.
Not only the, with the, New Zealand Postand timing with us setting up passports,
but we started, it was also within thefirst year and we started saying, okay,
let's travel round a little bit and getto know our new country a little bit.
So we started on the long weekends,just traveling a little bit north
of where we stay, like a two hourdrive north or west or wherever
(10:45):
else to get to know the country.
And there were some tollsthat we had to go through.
So you saw that there were tolls andyou were paying the tolls and whatever.
Within a week of us doing that travelagain, I got a text and it said
it was from New Zealand Transport.
and again, click on this link.
You've gotta pay this fee and whatever,trying to catch you out again.
Again, not valid, butit's like they knew that.
(11:07):
I had just done traveling.
So you, almost think, oh,the timing is perfect.
It is something, and you don't wanna dosomething wrong being a new immigrant,
so you don't wanna be caught up.
You don't know how things work here.
You know that in New Zealand, Ilearned in New Zealand things are
more digital, they are more online.
There are these different fees thatyou're not used to and whatever else.
So you don't, you wanna be compliant,you don't wanna do something wrong.
(11:29):
And I almost clicked on that one too.
Luckily, my wife is startingto teach me, she's brilliant.
She works for a cybersecurity companyand she said, so even more embarrassing,
my wife is in cybersecurity and toldme to be aware of these things and here
I still go click on the BLI and linkand get caught for a thousand dollars.
Anyway, she started teachingme a lot better and things
that you need to look out for.
But tho those scammers are out here,I found maybe moving to New Zealand.
(11:53):
There's different scams.
I can only talk back to South Africa.
There were a lot of differentscammers and ways to try catch
you out and whatever else.
Back then, I'm not gonna go intoall of that, but one of the things
I found here in New Zealand isthere's a lot of texts, scams.
So they, send you a lot of texts abouta lot of things to try, click on links
and whatever else to try catch you out.
And I can just think back to when I washere in my first year and the stress
(12:15):
that you're going through, your guardis down and they do take advantage.
And it's not only once you've beentaken advantage of, it's how you feel.
You feel stupid and you feel embarrassedto try and report it and, speak up.
'cause you're, oh, what have I done?
I should know better.
and then you're angrywith yourself as well.
And also knowing that money is so tight.
for most of us, the money is really tightand you think, oh, what am I gonna do?
(12:35):
And it's extra stress.
So it, they really do take advantage.
So the whole reason I'm sharing thisstory with you is please just be vigilant.
Be careful.
There are fraudsters here.
New Zealand is a beautiful countryto me, and I'm so grateful to be
here, but I don't think any countryis immune to some sort of crime.
and unfortunately here, they do takeadvantage o of people that are vulnerable,
(13:01):
be it the elderly or Beit US immigrants.
They do try to take advantage to tryand get, take our money, It does happen.
I'll share the others.
Maybe not as relevant to you guys.
I started sharing with the, social mediasince I've started posting content and
yes, there was their job offer, butthey've also started direct messaging me
(13:21):
and trying to tell me that they're gonna.
Shut down my social mediapages and whatever else.
If I don't validate something in X periodof time, they're gonna delete the pages.
Click on this link,share this information.
I promise you they try everythingthey can to get hold of you,
and take you for a ride.
I think I really just wanted to sharewith you that it does happen, especially
(13:44):
when you're in your first year of beinghere, when you're going through so
much and you're really stressed out,be vigilant, be careful, especially
with text, direct messages, emails.
Don't click on any linksor anything like that.
May maybe I'll share the 10 different or10 tips to try and just be aware of to,
to help you stay on top of your game.
Okay, so just.
(14:06):
Always verify who the sender is that'ssending you the message, be it a text
message or be it an email, whatever else.
And when I say verify, if it's like fromNew Zealand Toast, toast, New Zealand Post
or Auckland Transport or whatever else.
Go check the actual domain.
So the address that it's comingfrom, sometimes it's suspect if
(14:27):
it's not their official address.
And do a little bit of homeworkbefore you click on them, the
links or anything like that.
Go look on their officialwebsite yourself.
Don't click on their link.
Go look up their actual website yourselfand see, okay, what is their address?
Is it NZ post co nz?
Okay, so now go back to themessage and see, is it valid?
look at the number that the, Thatis actually sending you the text.
(14:49):
If it's a plus six four, thenyou know it's at least local, so
it's a potential of being real.
But if it's from a plus 55 orany other part of the world,
that's already a huge red flag.
So don't, click on those.
So really try and alwaysverify who the sender is.
don't click on suspicious links.
Okay?
If there's a link in there, inthe text or the email or whatever
(15:12):
else, don't click on them.
hover over the URL or hover over theemail address and see what comes up.
Okay?
So maybe it says thatit's whatever at, nz.
Post or gov or whatever.
That sounds right, but when youhover over it, it sometimes tells
you a different address or adifferent link that it's going to.
(15:34):
already, that's another redflag, so be very careful.
Urgency.
They like the ones that I've got.
They always try build up thisurgency that if you don't click on
this now, you're gonna get a fine.
If you don't click on this now and verifythis account, it's gonna get deleted.
If you don't pay us this moneynow, you won't get your parcel
(15:55):
or it won't be shipped wherever.
So they really try create thatsense of urgency and worry in you.
So you think, oh crap,okay, I gotta get this done.
so, be careful of that.
Look for typos and grammar.
Now I know I don't pay attentionto detail, and this is something
my wife constantly tells me about.
She's like a sticklerfor attention to detail.
Go check the actual grammar, checkthe wording, check the, layout.
(16:18):
if they've got three differentexclamation marks that you respond by ex
or whatever, this is gonna be deleted.
Banks and professionalorganizations, they don't.
Talk like that and type like that.
It's just not the way they word things.
So just be careful and look out forthose, things on your accounts that
you've got, be it your, social mediaaccounts, your email accounts, wherever
(16:41):
you can set up two factor authentication.
Set it up.
And get it in place.
It just safeguards you a little bit.
So God forbid they get yourpassword or whatever else.
At least you've got that in placeto try and protect yourself.
So try make sure that's set upon as many counts as possible.
try and look at, mention thedomain, so just make sure that
(17:03):
the domain address is correct.
so, check, the domains also checkthat it's potentially from an h tt
PS, so it's a secure account that it'sactually, location that it's coming from.
Don't, share any information onany emails or direct messages
if they start asking you for.
ID photos or copies of passportsor your birthdate or, IRD
(17:29):
numbers don't share any of that.
Okay?
Rather what you do is, if it's comingfrom your bank and a asking for
that sort of thing, don't click onany of the links in that email or
that message that they've given you.
Go verify on the official bank's websiteor via your actual app on your phone that
you've used to log into the official app.
Banking app, go look up the contactt details and contact them directly
(17:51):
from your own information, not theinformation they've provided, and
contact them and say, Hey, you've gotthis message, you've got this email.
What is this all about?
And see that it's actually officialand real before you share anything.
'cause generally banks will notask you to share that sort of
stuff on email and stuff like that.
They don't ask for that.
That's not the way they do things.
It's not secure, it's not safe.
So don't share anything,that's official on anything.
(18:14):
And that means not only sharingit as attachment and emails.
Even clicking on a link andputting in your details.
Don't put in your IRDnumber, your birth dates.
they capture that information to tryand personate you, so that they can use
you, your information to potentially dosomething else, maybe apply for credit.
All kinds of things.
These guys are ridiculous, okay?
So be, you have to be on your guard.
(18:36):
If you do see anything that issuspicious, report it, block the accounts,
report it to whoever it is, be it.
your banks, Al Beit, the postoffice, or be it, New Zealand,
transport agencies or whoever it is.
Go back to the official supplier andlet them know, Hey, this is fraudulent.
This is what I received, whatever else.
(18:56):
So they can try and also try andhelp prevent it from affecting
other people, but at the veryleast, at least block it on your.
Make sure that your phone's, up to dateon all its, its software, et cetera.
Your, laptops have got the latestantivirus and everything updated.
So, that at least you'reprotected as much as possible.
So try to keep that in mind as well.
And then lastly, just try, sharewith your family, your friends, any,
(19:20):
what I'm trying to do now with all,
Potential people that theycould take advantage of.
So in my case, I'm trying to share withany immigrants to try to learn from me.
Don't do the same thing thatI did, but also share with any
friends that are coming across orany family members talk about it.
I know as hard as it is, and as.
If it has happened to you.
it's embarrassing, man.
Geez, you don't want to admit to beingsuch a bloody idiot and losing money
(19:42):
and whatever, but I, it just showsyou, it can happen to anyone, but try
and talk about it and educate yourfriends and your, communities and your
network and tell them, Hey, be vigilant.
Be careful of these sort of things.
so yeah, that's really whatI wanted to share today.
So it's not a. a hugely long podcastor anything today, but it's just
something that I'm on my soapbox aboutbecause I've been bombarded this week
(20:03):
because I've been trying to get my,social content out there, and I've
just seen how these scammers are tryingto catch me out and who knows what
they wanna do with my details, and itjust reminded me of when I got here.
How I got scammed, on textmessages and stuff like that.
I just wanted to remind you guys,for those of you that are about to
come across here or have just landedhere in country, I know it's hugely
(20:25):
stressful and there's so much going on.
The last thing you wanna dois also be caught out by some
fricking scammer or, fraudster.
that is gonna take your money.
So just be vigilant, think about thesethings that I've shared, to just try,
don't be caught out, so that it's oneless thing that you have to worry about.
So on that note, I just wanted to,again, thank you guys for listening.
(20:47):
I hope this is, of value.
Share it with anybody else.
Get the message out there to asmany immigrants as possible so they
don't get caught out on this sort ofthing, but also just share with them.
So that all the content that I'm sharing,if it can try and help, them with their
move across here, the whole point isI'm trying to help all immigrants settle
and have a softer landing than what wedid so we can make New Zealand home.
(21:10):
that, that's really thewhole intention here.
share, share this, podcast.
But also, if you can go to my YouTubechannel, it's at Soft landing nz,
subscribe, turn on your notifications.
it'll let you know when I've putany new content on so you don't
miss anything and follow me.
And again, just thanksguys for joining me today.
(21:31):
It's a short one today.
I, have got two podcasts comingup that I'm very excited about.
the one is going to be, andboth of them are interviews.
So I started my first interviewwith my wife last week.
so that, that was my, learningcurve on how to do interviews.
So hopefully that wasn't, too bad, butI'm gonna be interviewing two friends.
One friend I went to school with back inSouth Africa, and he's gonna share his
(21:53):
story and the challenges he's had, which.
Awesome.
Which he's gonna be sharing particularlyaround, getting a DUI, which I'm
oh, I cannot believe how courageoushe is to share his story, but
that's gonna be a really good one.
And then there's another friendof ours, that I actually used
to work with many years back.
I think we said it was like 12 yearsago, maybe more back in South Africa, and
(22:14):
how he's moved across here with a familyof five and has done so extremely well.
And you think I had a hard start.
Geez, he had one hell of a hard start.
So I'm excited about those two.
So keep a lookout for those two podcaststhat are gonna be coming soon in July.
But yes, that's, me today.
I hope you all keep well, keepsafe and we'll speak to you soon.
Cheers.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.