If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It's a common refrain, but as people find themselves under increasing financial pressure, they're being warned to take extra care with suspected investment scams on the rise.
Authorities are increasingly concerned about the rise of suspected investment scams – and their potential impact on some of our most vulnerable communities.
CERT NZ, the country's cyber security watchdog, is particularly worried, because people can lose large amounts of money to them.
The agency's incident response team manager, Jordan Heersping, says people looking for financial advice were caught out by a scam earlier this year that used malicious Google advertisements.
"The ads would appear above legitimate search listings. For example, when someone searched 'invest money New Zealand', the first one or two results would be advertisements. Unfortunately in these cases, these advertisements would be malicious."
The scam netted about $3 million in just a few weeks.
Year on year, CERT says it is seeing more and more scams – and the losses from them are also increasing.
"The internet's a big place, there are no borders and that's quite a cliché when we talk to tech people – it only takes a few clicks of a mouse to get something from one side of the world to the other," Heersping says.
"It's very open for people to communicate and that's both a positive thing and a thing people need to be aware of."
Good Shepherd is a non-governmental organisation helping people in economic hardship, including those who've found themselves in unmanageable debt.
Head of microfinance Natalie Vincent says in a cost-of-living crisis, people can be sucked in by promises of big returns.
"A lot of people are desperate, there are people living on really limited low incomes, the cost of living is getting higher and higher, the cost of housing, all of these different things that are impacting people being able to actually meet their day-to-day living costs.
"And they get sold a dream, they get sold hope."
John Pulu, co-host of Tagata Pasifika and host of the Tongan language show on Radio PI 513, says there are a number of reasons Pacific communities in particular might get caught up in scams.
"We don't earn a lot, and we work in jobs that we don't get paid enough for ... so there's already enough strain on the budget for families," he says.
"We have big families as well. Add on the community obligations – we have family obligations, church – there's always something for us."
And Vincent says a more collective approach to wellbeing could make some groups more of a target for scammers than others.
"When people are in that sort of environment of trust and sharing, it's very easy for people to take advantage of that."
She says if someone offers something that sounds too good to be true, it's worth taking a pause.
"Say to that person 'Thanks for that opportunity, leave it with me, I'm going to have a think about it, and then take that information, talk to some professionals, go and talk to the bank, talk to a financial mentor – do whatever due diligence you can."
Vincent says people who have been scammed are often too ashamed to come forward and seek help.
And she says some of the warnings about investment scams simply aren't reaching some communities.
"Is it getting through to everyone, or is it only hitting a certain audience? There's a lot of talk about scams and online scams, but are we getting the message through to those communities that are more vulnerable to being caught up in these scams?
"I suspect that we're actually not, we're not providing the information in a way that is accessible or equitable in its delivery."
The Financial Markets Authority regularly posts warnings and alerts on its website and social media channels to warn people about suspected scams.
It's also run a campaign with the Commerce Commission to raise awareness of investment scams targeting the Pacific community.
However, the FMA says it's very conscious its website may not be the first place Pacific people think to look for information about scams, so it's keen to hear about ways to improve the likelihood of its messages getting to people to try to prevent harm.
Hear more about this issue in the full podcast episode.
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