A group of students in Tauranga have rallied round one of their teachers after he lost more than $5000 in a cryptocurrency scam.<\/p>\n
Ot\u016bmoetai College teacher Deon Wessels had done some tentative research into crypto investment without committing any funds, but was coaxed into doing so via messaging platform WhatsApp.<\/p>\n
The firm in question claimed to be a \u201clegal company based in the UK\u201d, made up of a team of \u201cprofessional traders\u201d in crypto exchange and coins.<\/p>\n
After a convincing pitch, Wessels, a 66-year-old electronics teacher, took the plunge.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: \u201cThe woman I spoke to was so friendly,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were chatting about football and all sorts of things. She said it was the best investment she\u2019s ever made and that they were about to open offices in New Zealand and Australia. These people are very cunning.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After his initial investment, made after he was promised a 25 per cent return within the first 24 hours, alarm bells started to ring.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until later that they told me that the plan I had signed up to required me to invest $1000 every week,\u201d said Wessels.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when I said \u2018hold on, this is not right\u2019. They then told me the funds were automatically reinvested every 24 hours, and I couldn\u2019t touch my money until the end of the term. I didn\u2019t even know there was a term.<\/p>\n \u201cThey accused me of not asking the right questions, but how do you know what questions to ask unless the plan is laid out in plain sight?\u201d <\/p>\n As the panic set in, the company in question told Wessels his only option was invest a further 50 per cent of the amount he\u2019d initially put down and move to another scheme.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was their terms and I was left with no choice,\u201d he said. \u201cThey guaranteed this would fix things and I\u2019d be able to withdraw my money, but the rules changed again and again. That\u2019s when I realised I was never going to get my money out of there. That money has gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Ot\u00c5\u00abmoetai College\/Supplied<\/cite><\/p>\n Deon Wessels teaches electronics at Ot\u00c5\u00abmoetai College in Tauranga.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In total, Wessels lost $5079 of his life savings, and a call to his bank, BNZ, confirmed his worst fears. The so-called investment company, meanwhile, simply blocked Wessels\u2019 number and ceased all communication.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems that when you put money into a crypto wallet, it disappears into the ether,\u201d said Wessels. \u201cYou have no recourse, and there\u2019s no going back. This company knew this – they knew exactly what they were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Moral support came from his Ot\u016bmoetai College students after Wessels shared his experience with a group of year 13 pupils.<\/p>\n After a brief internet search, one student quickly confirmed that despite their claims, the company in question were neither registered with Company\u2019s House in the UK, nor did they have any physical address or contact details.<\/p>\n \u201cA bunch of my kids started researching this company, and there\u2019s no names, no addresses,\u201d he said. \u201cThe woman I spoke to claimed they were in London. The registered company number that\u2019s displayed on their website doesn\u2019t exist. I should of done that from day one I guess.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so proud of my students though. I asked them to get out there and to warn others, and that\u2019s exactly what they\u2019ve done. I\u2019m lucky to have such a good relationship with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Ot\u00c5\u00abmoetai College\/Supplied<\/cite><\/p>\n Ot\u00c5\u00abmoetai College student Logan Roelofs.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n One such student is Logan Roelofs \u2013 a 17-year-old from Ot\u016bmoetai who, along with his classmates, became deeply concerned for their teacher. A quick fix as far as they were concerned was to issue a warning to others. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re trying to find vulnerable people that don\u2019t know how crypto works,\u201d said Roelofs. \u201cThen they convince them to pay out their own money.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was led to believe that they offered a safe way to invest in crypto, and they eventually roped him in.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us it\u2019s about raising awareness and making the community aware that these so-called companies are using the popularity of cryptocurrency to get money out of people \u2013 people who are vulnerable and maybe don\u2019t have the knowledge of how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey kept throwing sets of rules at him regarding percentages, and things started to get very random and very complex. It\u2019s basically a tactic designed to confuse people into paying more money.\u201d<\/p>\n Wessels\u2019 newfound knowledge around how cryptocurrency works is backed up by his bank, BNZ, who acknowledged a visible increase in crypto scams.<\/p>\n Ot\u00c5\u00abmoetai College\/Supplied<\/cite><\/p>\n Deon Wessels is an electronics teacher at Ot\u00c5\u00abmoetai College.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cThey generally involve phishing emails or fake websites, or messages through Instagram, Facebook or WhatsApp which advertise cryptocurrency investment opportunities with amazing returns,\u201d said BNZ spokesperson Mike Burgess.<\/p>\n \u201cUnlike other financial investments, which are regulated by the New Zealand Financial Market Authority, cryptocurrency is not regulated by a central authority. This means there\u2019s no recourse if something goes wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cNo matter if it\u2019s a crypto scam or some other type of fraud, the same watchouts apply \u2013 if it sounds too good to be true, you\u2019re asked to keep it a secret or you feel you are being rushed to make a decision, then it\u2019s likely a scam.\u201d<\/p>\n Burgess encouraged potential investors to check websites thoroughly, no matter how legitimate they look, and make the web address match what appears on the page.<\/p>\n \u201cImportantly, if you think you\u2019ve been the victim of a scam get in touch with your bank immediately,\u201d he added, \u201cbecause once you transfer money to a scammer, they will be quick to move it around into a traceless cryptocurrency and then transfer again to an unidentifiable wallet elsewhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Data released by ASB earlier this month confirmed what they called a \u201cdark side-effect\u201d of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a significant rise in the number of New Zealanders falling victim to scams since the virus surfaced in March 2020. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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