Scam loss reports jump to $6.5m in second quarter as ransomware scourge grows

Thursday, 5 September 2019

Consumers and business voluntarily reported direct losses of $6.5 million from scams to Government cyber-security agency Cert NZ during the three months to the end of June.

The figure is the highest quarterly loss reported to the agency to date, and actual losses from online scams are assumed to be significantly higher because of the level of non-reporting.

The agency said it received 1197 'incident reports', which was the second-highest number after the three-month period to last December.

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The agency saw a 38 per cent rise in ransomware reports when compared to the first three months of the year.

59 per cent of the fraud notifications Cert NZ received were from individuals, and the remainder from businesses and other organisations.

The agency exists largely to provide support to victims and to gather and provide information about cyber-security.