ANZ Bank New Zealand has announced a new partnership with Age Concern New Zealand to help local seniors raise their scam awareness and boost their overall digital literacy skills.

The three-year partnership includes funding for Age Concern New Zealand, an over-65s support services charity, to provide a digital literacy program to older New Zealanders, and a campaign to raise awareness about scams.

“With local Age Concerns throughout New Zealand often the first port of call for older people in their communities, we think there is an opportunity to leverage their reach and connect to a wider audience with information about internet safety, how to avoid being scammed and what to do if a scam occurs,” said Ben Kelleher, ANZ NZ’s managing director for personal banking.

An exponential increase in scam activity in New Zealand has, Kelleher said, had a “profound” impact on older Kiwis.

“Unfortunately, older people are at significant risk of falling victim to financial scams, especially as scams get increasingly sophisticated and harder to spot,” he said.

Research released by ANZ earlier this year showed that over half of over 65-year-olds have experienced an actual, or attempted scam in the last 12 months.

“More than half of those who were scammed lost money, however only half of those surveyed who experienced a scam reported it, and even fewer spoke to their friends and family about it,” Kelleher said.

“It also showed people are worried about being scammed but aren’t always aware of what to do to stay safe, and sometimes the information about how to stay safe can also feel complicated.”

Age Concern New Zealand chief executive Karen Billings-Jensen welcomed ANZ’s commitment to the digital literacy uplift program, stating that the “partnership reaffirms the importance of collaboration in safeguarding older people from the growing threat of sophisticated scams”.

“Together, we can build digital literacy skills and scam education programs to help older people feel confident and safe online.”