Waimea Weekly Locally Owned and Operated
Wednesday 16 September 2020
Win-win for housing
Ageing Well Live life to the full
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Page 15-17
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New event for Speedway
Sophisticated scams target elderly Matt McCrorie Reporter
matt@waimeaweekly.co.nz
Scams are targeting elderly residents in the area, and specialists say that they are becoming more sophisticated by the day. A local woman lost nearly 10k in
an iTunes Gift Card scam. The woman, who was cold-called by an international scammer, was promised a ‘substantial’ lump sum of cash, if she would purchase iTunes vouchers, and send the voucher numbers to the scammer, who could then sell them online.
Age Concern Nelson Tasman Elder Abuse Response Advisor, Mal Drummond, says that scams have become much more sophisticated in recent years. “The scammer would actually phone the store ahead of time, before she went there, to tell them that this person was coming, and
that she was going to be buying iTunes vouchers, but it was all ok, and the scammer claimed to be her granddaughter.” The police became involved after the business, a local supermarket where the woman was purchasing the gift cards from, became suspicious of the volume and fre-
quency of gift cards she was purchasing. “We engaged with her and put a Safety plan around her. But it didn’t stop the scammer.” Mal says that while they suspect the scammer was based overseas,
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Washbourn gardens on Oxford street, Richmond, are radiating spring is well and truly upon us. The gardens are an impressive green space which also include a touch of history in the old Richmond gaol building. The piece of land on which the gardens now sit was provided by the Nelson agricultural and pastoral association (a&p) in 1928 to be used for recreation purposes in memorial of Dr Hubert Washbourn. Dr Washbourn was an enthusiastic breeder and importer of jersey cows. He took a very keen interest in the work of the association, in the farming community generally, and was president of the Nelson a&p association at the time he died in 1927. Photo: Jacqui Rawson.
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