NZ Herald 27 January 2018

AGulp. What a nightmare!

My immediate concern on reading your letter was that you gave a man from Dodgy Co access to your computer. So I asked the Consumer Protection people in the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment if that’s a worry.

“While the Consumer Protection Helpline has not reported any complaints regarding AnyDesk specifically, remote access scams have been occurring for some time and consumers are advised to mindful of how they work,” says Mark Hollingsworth, manager of Consumer Protection.

“Scammers attempt to gain access to your PC through a remote access application. Then they search your computer for personal information, which could be used to steal money or commit identity fraud.

“While remote access applications, like AnyDesk, may be verified online platforms themselves, consumers are advised to be vigilant with whom they might choose to share remote access, and only do it with people they know and trust.

“There’s very little protection against scammers if they have access to your computer, as many could be doing it from untraceable locations overseas.

“If you think you have been scammed, report it to the police.”

Consumer Protection’s advice on avoiding remote access scams:

• “Do not engage with anyone who offers to fix your computer or install software who you don’t know.
• “Contact a reputable listed technician if you need help with your computer.
• “Use different passwords for different online accounts, and consider two factor authentication.”

But you already know this now, as I sent you this advice as soon as I received it. So let’s move on to the binary options companies.

I’ve changed their names so I’m not sued. But I’m pretty sure they’re not solid. Why? When I Googled the name of each company plus “scam”, a lot of responses came up.

It’s not a bad idea to do this if you’re considering investing in any company. But don’t be impressed if some official-looking links say the investment is sound, or that other similar investments are fine — “and why don’t you invest in these instead?” Some people out there in the internet world could convince a mother to give up her firstborn.

It’s also good to check what Wikipedia says about any type of investment. On binary options it says they “are prone to fraud and banned by regulators in many jurisdictions as a form of gambling.”

I strongly recommend that readers avoid investments in binary options, foreign exchange, bitcoin or anything else if you can’t understand how wealth is generated.

As I said in this column late last year, “With bonds, someone pays me interest for the use of my money, plus extra to compensate for the risk I’ve taken investing in them. With shares, I get a share of the company’s profits, plus a gain if the profits are expected to increase. With investment property, I get rent, plus a gain that ultimately reflects expected growth in rent.”

With many other so-called investments, there’s no new wealth. One “investor” gets richer because another gets poorer. In many cases, most or all “investors” get poorer except the people running the scheme.

Oh, you’ll read about — and maybe know — ordinary people who have made heaps. But it will be a set-up. The schemers let a few people do really well at the start, to entice others. Or — as in your case — it seems you’ve made heaps on paper, but it’s a different matter when you want the money in your bank account.

What should you do now? Given that one company seems to be based in Bulgaria and the other in Estonia, I don’t like your chances of getting any money back.

Nor would I follow up with the Israeli company. I bet it will ask you for money before it gives you any back — if it ever does. When you think about it, how is an Israeli company going to force a Bulgarian or Estonian company to cough up? Even if they were in the same country, how can a private company force another to pay without spending lots on litigation? And who do you think will pay for that?

Says the NZ government’s Scamwatch website, “Some scammers target people caught in recent scams, e.g. by pretending to be an overseas enforcement agency that can return all of your money for a fee. Don’t give money to anyone on the promise they will get your lost money back.”

For more good advice, see Scamwatch at tinyurl.com/scamNZ. Among other things, it tells you how to report if you’ve been scammed.

Beyond that, though, put this behind you — knowing that two good things have come of it:

• You’ve learnt lots.
• You’ve warned others. Thanks so much for doing that.

P.S. When I was Googling the companies that scammed you, up came a box of the sort that usually contains an ad. But instead it said, “Sorry you cannot be advertised to”. How did I get so lucky?

I must say, though, that I’m sick of binary option ads coming up now whenever I’m on the internet. Wish we could somehow say “I’m not searching this topic because I want it!”

A“Not again!”, I thought when I read your email. A letter in my first column last year was similar, but that involved transferring money from one bank to another. It’s got to be much simpler within a bank. So I asked ANZ what was going on.

“Such transactions have a processing time of three business days, and this customer’s transaction was processed within that time,” said a spokesman.

“The transfer isn’t instant because the money is moved to a holding account overnight where it is aggregated with money from other customers.

“Once aggregated, the funds are transferred to the investment account in one go, rather than individually (which is administratively complex given the sheer number of these transactions).”

Okay, but what about interest in the meantime?

“ANZ doesn’t benefit from any interest earned during that time as any interest earned is paid to the destination fund and forms part of the fund’s investment return,” said the spokesman.

I replied, “Would it be accurate to say that the customer actually does get interest on the money. When the next returns on his investment fund are attributed to his account, it will be a wee bit higher because his $33,000 was sitting in the holding account for a few days?”

Yes, said the spokesman, “members benefit from any interest earned on the account.”

Still, whoever you spoke to at the bank wasn’t too good on the communications.

AWhen I was a kid, nearly every family — including some with many children — had just one bathroom. How did we manage in the mornings? But standards have changed.

On your other point, someone’s got to realise there’s a buck to be made building three smaller homes on two sections.

AGood point, which is confirmed on www.qv.co.nz. “House sizes were relatively stable up until the 1930s and 1940s when the depression and war led to slightly smaller houses being built,” says the website.

Still, the trend after that is clear. “Since the 1950s house sizes have steadily increased, with particularly rapid growth between 1980 and 2010. There is little difference across the country with most of the main centres showing a very similar pattern,” it says.