Wellington International Airport is continuously battling online scams that use their brand to trick people. According to airport spokesperson Phil Rennie, as soon as one scam is removed, another appears in its place. Recently, a fake deal was advertised on Facebook, offering lost or unclaimed luggage for just $3 each. The page, titled “Wellington Airport Terminal,” seemed legitimate at first, but further inspection revealed fake accounts and comments from “satisfied customers.”
Rennie explained that these scams are relentless and difficult to keep up with. Despite reporting them to Facebook, new ones appear within hours of the old ones being taken down. He also clarified that the airport would never sell passengers’ luggage, which is a clear sign that the page is a scam.
The fake page included a link to an Air New Zealand branded website with a countdown timer for the offer, which never went below 29 minutes. The site seemed designed to extract personal information from unsuspecting users. Although no one has reported handing over their details yet, Rennie warned that the comments and photos on these pages are all fake.
A similar scam page, titled ‘Air NZ lost luggage,’ appeared shortly after the first one was removed from Facebook. A Facebook search revealed multiple pages with similar offers, all using different airline and airport names.
Sam Leggett, a senior analyst for CERT New Zealand’s threat and incident response team, warned that the information collected from these scams could be used to access accounts and credit cards or to create more targeted scams. He advised maintaining a healthy skepticism about deals that seem too good to be true and urged people to share their experiences to help others avoid falling victim to such scams.
