Weekly briefs

New Zealanders have lost tens of millions of dollars in the past 12 months to dubious investment schemes, Securities Commission chief executive John Farrell says.

Farrell says there has been a noticeable increase in the number of people committing to dubious schemes.

The commission has just released a paper on investor behaviour that identifies three scams that are becoming prevalent.

Among them are the approaches by telephone to buy shares in overseas companies at inflated prices, offers to invest in overseas companies which return more than 10 per cent and scam artists pretending to be promoting securities in New Zealand.