Fake News on Pension Reform

Please be aware that the article being circulated on-line about the Government’s plans to abolish state pensions is Fake News.

The original news item is very alarming and appears to be on the NZ Herald website, by a Herald Journalist. One hint that it is false is that the web address (https://nznews-herald.click..... is not the same as the genuine NZ Herald website address : https://www.nzherald.co.nz/

The Financial Markets Authority warns about this scam Deepfake video scam warning: fake news stories, political endorsements | Financial Markets Authority (fma.govt.nz).

“This scam uses fake news stories, spread through multiple websites and advertisements, with the names of investment schemes and websites used to promote the scam changing frequently.

Some recent examples include images of the New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, with accompanying text falsely claiming, 'pensions payments will be cancelled'. This is not true and designed to alarm readers into clicking on links included with the content.

FMA Director responsible for Scam Prevention and Co-ordination Peter Taylor said the recent imposter digital content seen by the FMA was very sophisticated.

"It can be very difficult to detect that some of these news stories are fake, they have the exact look and feel of legitimate online news content," he said. "But they are actually paid advertisements, used to alarm people, gain attention and get them to click on a link for more information."

Fake news stories are often created and used by scammers as a way of giving their trading platforms a mirage of legitimacy.

Some of the victims have only lost relatively small amounts of money – but they have given personal details to scammers, and now risk being contacted again in what are known as 'recovery scams'.

Many of the people caught up in the scams think they have made money trading through online platforms, but can't get any money out without being asked to pay fees and phony 'taxes'.

"These latest scams are pretending to be about the New Zealand superannuation regime, scaring people into thinking they may be losing retirement income," says Peter Taylor. "The use of political leaders faces and deepfake video to boost these claims is a particularly worrying development."

The FMA recently spoke to a New Zealand woman who had clicked on one of these fake news stories, and found herself caught in the net of an online investment scam.

Please be assured that this is a fake news item.”