A time to be vigilant
It's tax return time. Scammers are impersonating Inland Revenue (IR) - and even the Police to steal personal information and money.
They may contact you by email, text, or phone, claiming:
🔹 You're owed a tax refund and must provide your bank details to receive it.
🔹 You owe tax and need to pay immediately to avoid legal trouble.
How to stay safe:
✅ Don’t click on links in emails or texts - log in to your myIR account directly.
✅ Check the sender - official IRD emails always end in @ird.govt.nz.
✅ Be cautious with texts - IRD only sends messages from four-digit codes, not
regular phone numbers.
Learn more about protecting yourself from tax scams:
netsafe.org.nz...
Poll: Do you set New Year’s resolutions?
🎉 2026 is almost here!
We’re curious ... how do you welcome it?
Do you set resolutions, follow special traditions, or just go with the flow?
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10.4% Yes! New Year, New Me
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20.6% Yes - but I rarely stick to them
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68.9% Nah - not for me
Quote for the Day
Interviewer:
"Do you think that the British class system has finally ended?"
Upper-middle class Romance author, Dame Barbara Cartland:
"Well, of course it has; otherwise I would't be sitting here, talking to someone like you!"
Happy New Year [hopefully!]
Mike
Driven On The Akatarawa Rd Lately?
If so, its good to know you are still alive and reading this.
We have a function to go to over Christmas up that way and having heard a few hairy stories about the road, I went up there on Thursday to check it out. The road's ok, narrow and winding, but not much worse than a Wellington hill suburb. What was pretty scary was the behavior of other drivers. Three vehicles heading the other way at speed would have crashed into me if I hadn't been pulled off the road. I had pulled in to check the address when a truck came flying past, taking up all of the narrow road at speed. There is no way the driver would have been able to stop had they come around the corner immediately in front of me. The other two drivers came hurtling past as I had turned in to turn around and come back down the hill. They were also driving at speed and taking up most of the road. Coming back down I passed another car coming up and estimate that the safe speed to pass another car was about 30-35 kms.p.h. So, now we're thinking, do we go to the function or not.? Feels a bit like we're taking our life in our hands going up there. Drivers appear to be overconfident, and they are courting serious injury.
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