A grim milestone has been reached: according to the 2025 Netsafe/GASA NZ Scam Report, $3 billion was lost to scams and fraud — a 30% increase from 2024, and representing one of the highest per-capita scam loss rates in the developed world.
The statistics paint a stark picture of the scale and sophistication of fraud targeting people in 2025.
Key findings from the Netsafe/GASA 2025 Report:
23% of adults lost money to scams in 2025 — nearly one in four. The average individual loss stood at $3,352, though investment scam victims faced losses many times higher. Alarmingly, 82% of people encounter scams every week, and only 36% of those who reported fraud to their bank recovered their funds.
Perhaps most worryingly, only 10% of victims managed to stop the scam in time to prevent any loss.
The most costly fraud types:
Investment scams — particularly fake cryptocurrency trading platforms and romance-to-investment scams — remained the highest-value category, with individual losses often exceeding $20,000-$100,000. Business Email Compromise continued to grow, targeting construction, professional services, and property firms with high-value payment diversions.
Identity theft and account takeover fraud grew significantly, enabled by the increasing availability of stolen credentials from international data breaches. Phishing and smishing (SMS phishing) affected a broad cross-section of the population, with impersonation of IRD, NZ Post, and major banks the most common pretexts.
Why are we so heavily targeted?
Experts identify several factors: high internet penetration and digital banking adoption creates a large attack surface; the relatively high per-capita income makes the country an attractive target; and the relatively small population means fraud response resources are limited compared to the scale of the problem.
What this means for individuals and businesses:
For individuals, the data reinforces that fraud is not an edge case — it is a near-universal experience. Having protective measures in place, knowing what to do when targeted, and understanding the limits of bank protection are now essential financial literacy.
For businesses, the rising threat of commercial fraud — BEC, ransomware, employee theft, and social engineering — underlines the importance of both preventive controls and appropriate insurance cover. The average business fraud loss significantly exceeds the annual cost of commercial crime or cyber insurance.
The recovery challenge:
One of the most sobering statistics is the recovery rate. Only 36% of victims who reported to their bank recovered their funds. For authorised scam payments — where the victim was tricked into sending money — recovery is particularly difficult and often impossible once funds have been moved overseas.
This gap in financial protection is driving growing calls for a mandatory bank reimbursement code similar to those adopted in the UK and Australia, where banks are required to reimburse scam victims in defined circumstances.
Looking ahead:
AI-powered fraud tools are making scams more sophisticated — deepfake voice and video technology is now being used to impersonate executives and family members, and AI-generated phishing messages are increasingly difficult to distinguish from legitimate communications. The 2026 outlook from fraud experts suggests continued growth in both sophistication and volume.
The most important step anyone — individual or business — can take is to understand their exposure and have appropriate protection and response plans in place.