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February 21, 2025
Māori tech leader warns of online scams
Atereano Mateariki
Posted On February 21, 2025
Download AudioA Māori tech entrepreneur says online fraud targeting Māori whānau, events, and tangi is becoming more sophisticated by the day.
This week, Waatea Digital identified more than 12 fraudulent Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga pages designed to deceive people by directing them to a scam website where their personal information could be stolen.
Kaye-Maree Dunn, founding director of Māori data management company Āhau, says we must be mindful of what we share online and who we communicate with.
She says deepfakes are among the most dangerous scams, using AI-generated text, video, and audio messages to deceive people.
“One day, you might get a video call on Facebook. This is just completely hypothetical, but say you get a video call, you answer it, and you’re looking at your child, and the child saying, ‘Dad, dad, you know something’s happened. I need, like, I need 100 bucks. Need 200 bucks.’ And you know you’re not thinking, thinking it’s a crisis, and then find out actually, it’s fake,” says Dunn.
Kaye-Maree Dunn says verification markers, such as blue ticks from Meta, and staying ahead of evolving technology are the best safeguards against online scams.
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