Auckland Airport and Air New Zealand are warning against a prevalent luggage scam on Facebook, where unclaimed suitcases are falsely offered for $3 each.
According to a report in state-subsidised outlet NZ Herald, the scam uses Photoshopped images of luggage with the companies’ logos. Despite being recognized as a scam by many community page administrators, the posts continue to appear.
Scammers use fake profiles in comments to show supposedly satisfied customers. Several individuals reported losing over $80 to the scam.
The airport reported the scam to Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, but it remains an ongoing issue. They advise checking for a blue verification tick to confirm authenticity and caution against accepting friend requests or buying from impersonating pages.
Air New Zealand also monitors social media for these scam posts and confirms they do not sell lost luggage. Victims of the scam have reported fraudulent charges to their bank and alerted Meta. Some were saved from the scam after reading news articles about it.
