A man who scammed people out of nearly $300,000 by pretending to be a police officer has been arrested.

On Monday the 25-year-old man, a UK national, was chased by police through Auckland central on foot.

The scam involved a call to a landline by someone pretending to be a police officer and providing a fake badge number.

There were 18 Aucklanders, aged between 56 and 90, with the majority over 80, allegedly duped out of money.

“The scam will always involve this so-called officer asking for financial information or asking you to withdraw cash to be collected as part of an investigation into banks,” Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Bolton said.

  • DaveOPMA
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    2 days ago

    With my grandmother is was gradual over a really long time, but I’m curious about the anti cholesterol medication which she was almost certainly on. I’m learning about this a decade too late though 🫤

    • liv
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      15 hours ago

      Yeah I was kind of mentioning this stuff more because one day your parents will get old.

      Statins have benefits that typically outweigh the side effects, and confusingly they seem to protect people from dementia as well as causing issues with memory and cognition. It’s nothing to regret, just worth knowing it’s a factor.

      • DaveOPMA
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        14 hours ago

        Oh right, people get old! Well, some people 🫤

        It’s good to know, so thanks for sharing. I’ll try to remember this in the future when the knowledge is useful.