“Unfortunately, the use of images and artificially generated likenesses is on the increase with investment scams on social media platforms and websites being a major contributor to New Zealanders losing $265 million to fraud last year.”
A social media scam using an image of a man said to be Inland Revenue commissioner Peter Mersi.
Inland Revenue says it received more than 3000 reports of scams from the public in the three months to the end of February.
“Ignore or delete any ads like those used,” Lynch said.
“To protect yourself, use ad-blockers when browsing the web, change social media settings to restrict or limit ads, and change settings to block calls and texts from unknown numbers.
“From past experience, we know that scammers are aware of important tax periods and increase their attempts to rip off Kiwis.”
Lynch urged Kiwis to be extra vigilant and watch out for scammers.