A Christchurch man who is going through a terrifying extortion ordeal wonders how many others might have been caught up in it.

Newstalk ZB has seen text messages sent to the man from an 020 number, demanding money or threatening violence against him and his family.

He believes his phone number was taken from advertising he placed in a local paper.

The man has gone to police who said they have had multiple complaints about the phone number.

 

He received the first phone call earlier this week. The call lasted for five minutes, but the ordeal lasted for an hour with the man constantly calling back and texting.

"I originally got told this person was a member of a gang and that a debt had been passed on and I now owed him the money.

"I asked 'what debt? I don't owe any money to anyone' and he said [he knew who I worked for].

"He said I couldn't go to police. It was actually terrifying as he started to threaten my kids and family."

The victim said once he got off the phone he rang his lawyer, and his lawyer told him to ring the police.

"I phoned 111 and they said they had actually had multiple complaints about this number.

"By the time I rang the cops he was still ringing me, but the cops had actually said to me do not block him until we get all the information."

The victim said there was serious money involved in the treats.

"Exactly what I went through was this guy demanded money to be put into a bank account."

The victim filed a report at a police station yesterday.

"I couldn't believe it because there was another gentleman there with the exact same problem, and it had been going on for two months.

"Same MO, the only difference was they said they were from the Mongrel Mob.

"It is obviously a widespread problem which is really concerning because of how many other people are involved and the vulnerable people who might have ended up paying these guys."

The victim said he was speaking out in order to make people aware and in hopes of getting the people stopped.

"I'm a hard working person and do an honest day's job, so to have a phone call like that and for an whole hour of being targetted, abused and threatened, of course I am concerned and I still am. I'm still shaking as I speak now.

"It was actually very intimidating. It is awful and needs to stop.

"Hopefully police can get these guys and get them to stop. It is obviously a gang of some sort and just another way of targeting innocent people."

The victim said he knows of two other cases - one person believes their phone number was taken from Trade Me.

Trade Me head of trust and safety Jon Duffy said if that's the case - they can help.

He said to view a phone numbe the user must be logged in.

"If anyone is in receipt of an abusive phone call we recommend they contact police and if they can track that back to a source, for example if they have their number up on a website and they can verify that is where the person who is making the abusive calls got their contact details from, then contact that website as well.

"In Trade Me's example, in order to view a phone number of somebody's listing you need to be logged in. We do that to protect our users, so we can see who has used that listing and who might have obtained that phone number.

"If police come to us with an investigation into malicious use of a telephone or whatever the case may be, we can look back at all the people who have looked at those listings and potentially pursue them as suspects.

"My advice would be, don't put your phone number on to sites that you don't trust and if you are the victim of an abusive phone call you should think about contacting police."

In the past few days police have issued several warnings about phone scams.

One scam reported by Southern District Police uses an automated message in a Kiwi accent.

The message says, "This is the Police you owe money to Inland Revenue, if you don't pay you will be arrested. Please call 04 889 0505".

When rung a person asks for your name and IRD number.

Another scam is said to use an automated call in a Chinese accent claiming to be from DHL.

"The automated call tells the phone user that DHL has goods waiting for them and that they need to press 9 to talk to somebody to discuss, and if they press 9 the call then goes to a person who will ask for personal information," Senior Sergeant Charles Ip said.

If you believe you may be on the receiving end of one of these calls, Police advise the following:

• Hang up immediately.
• If it doesn't seem right, be cautious, double-check details first.
• Look after your personal details in the same way you would your wallet and other possessions. Your personal details are very valuable to scammers, they will use your details to take out loans or run up debts if they can.
• Be aware of common scams. For example, banks, Immigration New Zealand or Inland Revenue never email, call or text customers to ask for money to be sent using money transfer services.

Anyone who believes they are a victim of any crime, in person or online, should report the matter to their local Police.

Netsafe also provides helpful advice and information on its website.