Kiwi adults lost an estimated $503.5 million to scams over the past year, while separate research shows tech startups and financial crime experts are moving to catch fraudsters earlier in the cycle.
New Zealanders faced an average of 88 scam attempts per year, according to The State of Scams Report 2026: New Zealand produced by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance in partnership with Netsafe. The findings indicate that 83% of adults encountered at least one scam, which is a 1% increase from 2025.
Emails remained the most common delivery method at 59%, followed by text messages at 44% and phone calls at 27%. Gmail accounted for 38% of initial contacts and Facebook accounted for 35%. While 73% of adults expressed confidence in recognizing a scam, 44% of those who encountered one still went on to interact with it. Among those interactions, 23% resulted in lost money or stolen personal information.
Shopping, impersonation, and investment scams drove the highest interaction levels, with victims losing an average of $1,623. More than a third of victims, or 37%, were targeted more than once, and 60% reported that the experience negatively impacted their mental wellbeing. Nearly half of victims, 49%, discovered they had been scammed only after being alerted by an outside source such as a bank, family member, or authority, up from 37% in 2025.
While 74% of those who encountered a scam reported the incident, they were much more likely to confide in friends or family at 51% than to contact the police at 17%. For those who reported financial losses, 42% recovered or were reimbursed for some or all of their money.
Bank reports filed through Payments NZ’s Reported Fraud Monitor show $265 million lost to scams in 2025. Financial crime experts argue that individual banks examining transactions in isolation are missing the wider picture of how fraudsters operate across multiple accounts and institutions.
“Around 30% of all New Zealand crime now is scams,” Damian Matich told the NZ Herald, referencing data from the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey. Matich runs the startup Tōtara Canopy, which is developing a service called Canopy Protect.
Canopy Protect uses open banking protocols and Facebook API connections with customer consent to screen daily transaction data across multiple accounts. The AI-backed system flags concerning patterns and alerts the customer, their bank, and a nominated trusted guardian. Because the platform cannot freeze funds independently, early detection relies on alerting banks and support networks before transfers are finalized.
The startup completed a research phase between May and September alongside AUT, backed by funding from the UK fraud prevention service Cifas. Testing involved synthetic transaction datasets modeled on New Zealand and UK payment environments. “We have 15 different classes of models that we can run,” Matich said, adding that model performance was tested at up to 20 times higher than current industry standards.
Netsafe chief executive officer Brent Carey emphasized that protection cannot remain solely the consumer’s burden when fraud tactics become increasingly sophisticated.
“People should be able to look for work, buy something online or respond to a message from their bank without having to become experts in deception,” Carey said, pointing out that “the frequency of scam encounters in New Zealand makes protection a responsibility for every organisation involved in those everyday activities.”
Netsafe chief online safety officer Sean Lyons called for expanded industry collaboration and clearer reporting pathways to limit ongoing harm for victims.
“Someone seeking help should be able to understand where to report, what action may be possible and where further support is available,” Lyons said.
Earlier coverage: 44% of New Zealanders Who Encounter Scams Go on to Interact With Them
