Several Wellington-based law firms have lost over $2 million in a sophisticated phone scam where criminals impersonated ANZ bank staff.
Scammers, pretending to be from the bank’s fraud team, used previously obtained banking information to convince victims to grant remote access to their computer systems and share authentication codes.
Some calls even played genuine ANZ hold music to appear legitimate.
ANZ has confirmed the affected firms are cooperating with police and urged other potential victims to come forward.
The scam has highlighted the increasing threat of “impersonation fraud”, with businesses being warned to remain vigilant.
Image credit: Markus Spiske
Oh no, anyway…
Those poor innocent lawyers
While i am annoyed this has happerned, I will never feel sad or unhappy about what nasty things happen to a legal firm. On this occasion i simply say “Oh dear.”
Payback is such a bitch!
Cry me a river.
Oh well not to worry about a mere 2 million we will gain that back in a couple of weeks thanks to you dumb humans.
Someone mistakenly left the cages open in the Reptile House at the zoo, and snakes were slithering all over the place. Frantically, the keeper tried everything but couldn’t get the slippery animals back into their cages. Finally, he yelled, “Quick, call a lawyer!” “A lawyer? Why?” “We need someone who speaks their language.”