Where's My Money Season 4, Episode 3

Season Four of Where’s My Money?, now a multi-award-winning podcast, has arrived and we will share all the insights covered across the episodes by host Reagan White and his guests.

enable.me partners with rova to bring this podcast to life and stimulate the conversation about finances with everyday Kiwis. Where’s My Money? follows the story of Reagan – a man chasing the Kiwi Dream but feeling stuck living month-to-month – and his discussions with the experts about what he may be doing wrong and how to fix it.

One man. One million dollars of debt. One podcast to find a way out.

We usually think of scammers as an anonymous room of people in another country, headset mics firmly strapped onto their heads, calling the elderly and vulnerable to try and steal their cash. In reality, it can happen to anyone at any time – and can even come from local sources.

In this episode, Where’s My Money? host Reagan White peels back the layers of shame surrounding scams to investigate the issue. He himself has been scammed, and he calls in a loyal listener to share their story as well. Expert guests Mark Francis from Debt Managers and Jessica Walker from Consumer NZ add their commentary – and explain why the most confident people often fall first.

If you’ve been scammed, you’re not alone

A debt collector showing up on your door is the thing of nightmares, especially when you aren’t even aware you have unpaid debt. Reagan experienced this when a debt collector came calling from a telecommunications company that he didn’t even have an account with.

Someone had set up an account under Reagan’s name – unbeknownst to him – and racked up more than $2,000 of debt, which was now Reagan’s responsibility. In short, he had been scammed.

“I had been scammed. Somebody had stolen my identity, set up an account under my name with my actual details and racked up two grand’s worth of fees that I was now responsible for,” Reagan shares.

“Two grand that you don’t have or you haven’t budgeted for to pay off a debt that you don’t know you had is a spicy meatball to swallow.”

Find others in the same boat

Reagan’s not the only one – he talks to fellow scam victim and Where’s My Money? listener Chris Turnbull, who was scammed by a New Zealand-based window installation company.

Living in a 1950s wooden-framed house in Wellington, Chris needed to replace his rotting window frames and chose to finance this through a mortgage top up, because “banks came out with these eco loans – the low interest, short term mortgage top ups.”

He chose a window company with industry-standard deposits (20%) and agreed-upon progress payments. With $24,000 up front and the first progress payment of $14,000, they trusted and believed that the company would provide the promised services. A quick look-up of reviews and business history also made it feel safe to proceed.

Then the excuses began: builders’ timetable issues, problems with installers, and no replies to check-up emails. On a local Facebook page, his wife found a few people who had the same issues with the same company, ending up with around 15 people affected.

After finding the manufacturer and piecing the puzzle together further, they realised they were not going to see their new windows. They were victims of a scam. The group banded together to try and get a resolution towards recouping the money they had lost.

“As a group, we told each other our police report numbers… we built a chain of Police reports for the police,” Chris says.

“We had finally managed to put it together for the Police that he was committing fraud.”

At this point, the group found a lawyer willing to work pro bono and put a case together to try and receive some justice – and hopefully some of their money back.

“He was charged with 12 counts of obtaining by deception… he’s plead guilty to the 7 of us he took the progress payments from.”

After conviction, the scammer has made a promise to pay $100 a month for 60 years to pay it off. As a result, Chris has written off most of his $40,000 as money he’ll probably never get back.

Chris says if you suspect you have been the victim of a scam, “reach out, you’re not alone. You’re not in this boat on your own… a lone voice is ignored… it’s only as a group we managed to fight this guy.”

Collections with purpose

Mark Francis from Debt Managers, the debt collection agency that knocked on Reagan’s door when he was scammed, discusses the landscape of debt collection agencies.

He wants to flip the narrative of the scary debt collector on its head.

Mark shares that “once upon a time it was transactional, try and collect as much money as quickly as possible. Full stop.”

“We’re still trying to recover funds in such a way that [the] customer is not negatively impacted by the outcome… we don’t want customers going without heating, or food, or all of these basic essentials that are human rights.”

Debt Managers have purposefully evolved to open a conversation with customers, rather than only being focused on the end goal of recouping cash.

Mark reminds Reagan that most people in their lifetime will be impacted by some form of consumer debt, or loan, and not to feel ashamed. Removing the stigma and giving the conversation an understanding tone allows people to make the changes they need to move past any potential shame.

Reach out for help

Jessica Walker from Consumer NZ shares more about types of scams – shedding light on the difference between ‘authorised’ and ‘unauthorised’ scams.

Unauthorised means that you haven’t engaged with the scammer – usually this is a situation like being hacked, or your wallet is stolen then your card is used for a spending spree.

She says, “under the New Zealand banking code of practice, right now chances are you are going to be covered for this type of loss.”

Whereas an authorised scam is when you are tricked into providing your details to someone or into making payment for something dodgy. In this case, you’re unlikely to be covered to get this money back from the bank.

Jessica shares that after tracking for 18 months, they’ve found 11% of households have been impacted by scams – while also knowing that scams are under reported.

“The best piece of advice for anybody listening, watching, is tell your bank. And the faster you act, the more likely you are to be able to get all, some, hopefully some of your money back,” she says.

“Talk to your bank and they will be able to tell you not only the process from their end but also who else you should report to.”

You’ve heard it here; scams are impacting many New Zealanders. If you’ve been scammed, you don’t have to go through it alone. Listen to the full advice from Mark Francis and Jessica Walker in this episode of Where’s My Money?

Disclaimer: The Where’s My Money? podcast and the information shared by host Reagan White and his guests does not constitute individual financial advice. If you’re interested in receiving financial advice, you can book a consultation with an enable.me coach. Costs apply.