New Zealanders are being urged to take extra care with one-time passcodes after a victim of a sophisticated scam lost $4800 when fraudsters used the code to add his credit card to a digital wallet.<\/p>\n
The warning comes as Financial Services Complaints Ltd (FSCL) reports a sharp rise in financial services disputes and scam-related complaints.<\/p>\n
According to FSCL\u2019s 2025\/26 Annual Report, the organisation investigated a record 532 disputes during the year, a 49% increase on the previous reporting period.<\/p>\n
The report also highlights a growing number of sophisticated fraud and scam complaints.<\/p>\n
One case involved a man, identified as Tom (name changed for privacy reasons), who received a text message that appeared to be from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi about an unpaid toll.<\/p>\n
Believing the message was genuine, he clicked a link and entered his credit card details with a one-time passcode. Unbeknown to him, they used the information to add his card to a Google Pay wallet.<\/p>\n
Nine days later, three purchases totalling $4800 were made at separate stores using the digital wallet.<\/p>\n
Tom disputed the transactions with his credit card provider, arguing he had not authorised the purchases.<\/p>\n
However, the provider declined to refund the money, saying the card had been added to the digital wallet using the correct authentication process, including the one-time passcode.<\/p>\n
The complaint was then referred to FSCL.<\/p>\n
Financial Ombudsman Susan Taylor said FSCL accepted that Tom had been the victim of a scam, but the card provider\u2019s terms and conditions required customers to protect both their card details and one-time passcodes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Tom did not intend for his card to be added to a digital wallet, the terms and conditions still applied,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA one-time passcode can also be used to approve actions such as adding your card to a digital wallet. Never share or enter a passcode unless you are certain the request is legitimate. If in doubt, contact your card provider.\u201d<\/p>\n
FSCL found the card provider was unaware the card details had been compromised before the transactions occurred and had acted promptly once suspicious activity was detected.<\/p>\n
The provider also told FSCL a chargeback was not available because the purchases had been made through a digital wallet after goods had already been supplied by merchants who had no way of knowing the card details had been compromised.<\/p>\n
As a goodwill gesture, the provider refunded $207 in interest charges. FSCL considered that offer fair and reasonable.<\/p>\n
Taylor said anyone who suspects they have entered card details or a one-time passcode on a scam website should contact their card provider immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cActing quickly may allow the card provider to cancel the card or take steps to prevent any loss,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The warning comes amid increasingly sophisticated scams that use fake websites, convincing apps and persuasive communications to trick victims into handing over sensitive financial information.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealanders are being urged to take extra care with one-time passcodes after a victim of a sophisticated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-644785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}