The fourth annual Fraud Awareness Week was kicked off earlier this month with a speech by Hon Heather Roy, Minister Of Consumer Affairs at the Trade Me offices in Wellington.
Fraud Awareness Week is run in New Zealand by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Commerce Commission as part of the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce - a group of 19 Australian and New Zealand government agencies. The Taskforce works together to reduce the incidence and impact of frauds and scams and, each year, co-ordinates an information campaign for consumers timed to coincide with other global consumer fraud prevention activities.
In the world of online bookings, attempted fraud is an unfortunate inevitability. But don't worry, we've got your back. The team at BookIt have intercepted a number of fraud attempts over the past few years successfully preventing any losses on behalf of our customers.
The most common scam is for a fraudster to make a large booking using a stolen credit card. Shortly after making the booking, they will ask for a full refund to be made, either to another credit card, or via an international transfer service such as Western Union. It is very important to never process a refund to another credit card or via Western Union. All refunds should go through the BookIt system and will automatically be processed back to the original credit card.
If you receive a booking that looks suspicious, don't hesitate to contact us immediately. We have a number of measures in place to detect and avoid internet fraud and are here to help.
For more information visit http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/scamwatch. SCAMwatch is an information service provided by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.