Scammers posing as detectives and cryptocurrency company employees have stolen millions of dollars from wallet holders across New Zealand in recent weeks. 

Detective Inspector Stuart Mills stated that the police have received a number of reports from holders of crypto accounts and wallets. He stated that the losses have already totaled millions.

The scam starts when the caller, who claims to be a police detective, says that the victim’s identity documents or personal information were found on someone recently arrested.

The fake officer determines whether the person owns cryptocurrency and how much, and then a second scammer appears, posing as a representative from the victim’s crypto company.

The representative persuades the victim to provide passwords or seed phrases, sometimes directing them to a fake website that appears to be a legitimate crypto app.

“This type of scam is on the rise, and we want the community to be alert,” Mills said.

What police say they will never do

Mills stated that real police officers do talk to people during investigations. But they will never call and ask for information about crypto wallets, bank cards, PINs, passwords, or seed phrases. He also said that a phone number or email address on the screen doesn’t mean anything because scammers can fake real police contact information.

Anyone concerned that a caller is not genuine should ask for the officer’s details, then hang up and call the police. New Zealand’s National Cyber Security Center told people to watch out for urgent calls asking for software, money or access to their accounts or devices.

People fall for crypto scams across other regions

Similar warnings have been observed across the Tasman. Between July 3 and 7, residents fell victim to a different phishing attack, with more than $1.47 million in losses reported to Queensland’s Financial and Cyber Crime Group. Victims of the scheme were mailed a physical letter containing their personal information and a QR code that led to a website claiming to host a security update.

A 70-year-old chartered accountant from Gwalior, India, lost ~$2.2 million after being friended on social media and taken to a fake trading platform, Cryptopolitan reported. The platform had shown fake early gains then scammers refused to return his money.

US cryptocurrency losses hit $11.4 billion in 2025, an increase of 22% from the prior year, according to data from the FBI.

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