Scammer slips into OCN2 min read

Reading Time: 2 minutes

At the Onehunga Community News, we regularly warn readers about phishing and scam attempts.

Last month, however, we found ourselves caught out by one.

A person using the name Michelle Hancock contacted our office requesting a classified ad. As we don’t run a classifieds so she opted for a small mini ad offering free Yorkies to a good home. She sent us her address and phone number for invoicing purposes, and she even approved the wording before the ad was published in our November issue.

Thanks to an alert reader from Māngere Bridge, we soon learned that ‘Michelle’ was asking for a rehoming fee to be deposited before she would release the supposedly free puppies. When the reader offered to drop off the payment in person instead of transferring funds, ‘Michelle’ vanished.

Our editor and sales coordinator reached out to her, only to be accused of leaving the $400 rehoming fee out of the advertisement. When we sent her the original approval email showing her exact wording, she disappeared again.

A week later, ‘Michelle’ contacted us once more through our office email, attempting to place the exact same ad. When we asked if a rehoming fee applied, she replied that there wasn’t one – contradicting her earlier demands.

We have reported the scammer to Netsafe. The email addresses used were malyschristine65@gmail.com and sm9194274@gmail.com

We sincerely apologise to our readers. ‘Michelle’ appeared legitimate at first – she even supplied a phone number and street address, both of which turned out to be false.

This experience is a reminder that scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and even cautious community organisations can be caught out. We encourage readers to remain vigilant, question unexpected payment requests, and report suspicious activity.