New Zealanders fear online fraud & AI-driven scams

Experian research shows that 43% of New Zealanders say they have been victims of online fraud, while 87% are concerned about identity theft online.

The findings add to evidence of rising fraud losses in New Zealand. MBIE reported $265 million lost to fraud and scams in 2025.

Older consumers reported the highest exposure in the survey, with 56% of Gen X respondents and 50% of Boomers saying they had been victims of online fraud, compared with 40% of Millennials and 35% of Gen Z.

The most common incidents were social media account hacks or scams, cited by 42% of respondents, followed by purchase scams at 39% and credit card fraud at 36%.

Reports were highest in financial services and banking, where 71% of respondents said they had experienced fraud. E-commerce followed at 64%, then retail at 46%.

Other sectors also showed notable exposure. Telecommunications and government services were each cited by 41% of respondents, while utilities stood at 36% and healthcare at 28%.

AI Concerns

When asked which forms of online fraud worried them most, respondents ranked identity theft first, followed by credit card fraud, AI-driven fraud such as deepfakes, phishing scams, and account takeover.

The research also showed mixed public attitudes towards the use of artificial intelligence in fraud controls. Nearly half of respondents, 49%, said they were comfortable with AI being used for behavioural analysis to detect fraud.

Support fell when AI tools were seen as more intrusive or autonomous. Only 17% said they were very comfortable with facial recognition as a security method, while 4% said they were very comfortable with AI agents making decisions such as authorising payments or applying for services on their behalf.

Richard Atkinson, Head of Fraud and Identity at Experian, said the findings reflected the impact of growing digital activity and changing fraud methods on consumers.

"Fraud and identity theft are becoming a mainstream concern for New Zealanders as digital services play a larger role in everyday financial and consumer activity. At the same time, advances in technology are changing how fraud is carried out, enabling more convincing impersonation, making attacks easier to scale, and for organisations, harder to detect," Atkinson said.

The report covered Australia and New Zealand and examined the effect of fraud on identity, risk, and consumer behaviour. In the New Zealand results, concern over online identity theft emerged as one of the clearest themes, alongside scepticism about some of the technologies used to prevent fraud.

That tension is becoming more visible as companies add AI tools to fraud systems while trying to avoid creating extra friction for customers. The survey suggests consumers are more open to background analysis than to technologies that verify faces or make decisions without direct human input.

Atkinson said businesses faced a growing challenge as fraud techniques became harder to distinguish from genuine customer activity.

"As technology becomes more embedded in transactions, it is getting increasingly difficult for companies to differentiate between legitimate activity and fraud, making it critical to strengthen detection capabilities. However, businesses still need to maintain simple, transparent customer experiences whilst comfort levels toward certain technologies remain cautious," he said.