Get help
Who to contact, and in what order
Most people can work out roughly what to do. What is hard, straight after it happens, is knowing what to do first. Some of these steps have a time limit.
Step 1 · Where are you?
Step 2 · What happened?
- I sent money to someoneA transfer, a card payment, gift cards, or cryptocurrency.
- Someone got into one of my accountsEmail, social media, banking, or anything else you log in to.
- Someone is using my identityAccounts opened in your name, or your documents were taken or leaked.
- Someone is threatening to share private imagesSextortion, or images shared without your consent.
- Someone I met online is asking for moneyA partner, an investment tip, or a friend you have never met in person.
- I clicked a link or installed somethingYou are not sure whether any harm was done.
- I am not sure what happenedSomething feels wrong but you cannot name it yet.
Your next steps
In the next hour
Disconnect the device from the internet if you installed anything
Turn off wifi. It stops anything on the device from talking to whoever put it there.
If you typed a password anywhere, change it from a different device
And change it anywhere else you used the same one, which is the part people skip.
Today
Watch your accounts for a few days
Small unfamiliar transactions often come before large ones, because they are testing the card.
Turn on two-factor authentication where you can
It is the single change that most reduces what a stolen password is worth.
Report it to CERT NZ
Reporting helps even when nothing was lost.
You are not the only one
I lent my phone hotspot to a stranger at the airport
“I was sitting at Ngurah Rai airport in Bali, just killing time before my flight back. This guy walks up to me pretty…”
These organizations are independent of us. We list them because they are the right people to speak to, not because we are connected to them. If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number first.
The full directory
Everything we know about, including international options.
Report a crime
Police and government agencies by country.
Identity and accounts
Help with stolen identity and compromised accounts.
Still stuck?
Send us a message and a person will read it. We cannot recover money or investigate, but we can point you at the right place.