Wānaka Seasonal Accommodation and Work Forum founder and Wānaka Art Workshops page admin Jo Jago said she had seen more scammers recently making their way into groups and advertising jobs that did not exist.
The group has over 37,000 members who are advertising, looking for employment or a temporary place to stay in Wānaka.
Ms Jago herself had been contacted by a scammer who claimed to be promoting artwork but refused to give her details of the actual job he was after.
"He was speaking in, not poor English, but not getting the information across," she said.
"... and he was going on about his website and how many views, but what actually are you paying me, and what actually am I doing, and he wouldn’t give me the answers to that."
She was lucky to quickly realise it was a scam but said most job scammers who promised high hourly salaries would try to take money from those who were in need of a job before or if they gave any back.
Scammers had different ways of operating but one of the most common methods was posting an image with a written advertisement on social media community pages or group chats.
The advertisement would feature vague information often about remote admin jobs while boasting a salary of $40 an hour or above.
Ms Jago said scammers started using images of text rather than actual text to avoid the Facebook security system which picks up on keywords that might indicate a scam.
Group admins are therefore having to work extra hard to keep community groups safe and are urging locals to keep an eye out for signs someone may be trying to scam them.
Vague descriptions for jobs with unrealistic salaries was the first tell but the language scammers used when contacting potential victims was also something to keep in mind, she said.
One of the ways Ms Jago picks up on scammers who claim to be based in the United States, is by noticing their language is not that of a native English speaker.
This indicated the person was elsewhere in the world, trying to take advantage of people looking for work or a place to stay.
"The way they speak, or the words they use, or the typos," she said.
"The fact that they’ll call you dear ... it’s not something an American or an English person or a Kiwi and Aussie would call someone."
Wānaka Seasonal Accommodation and Work Forum admin Tony Thinkk said he now had to follow a rigid system to keep potential scammers out of the popular community group.
The first step was to check the person’s profile and look for warning signs such as no added friends and no activity.
"Sometimes I even go out of my way of actually messaging the person who was offering," Mr Thinkk said.
"And if their answer does not add up, now I just block them, remove them from the group."
This heightened need for security came from having to help others after they lost money through scams.
He recalled having to assist a woman in Thailand who had been looking for long-term holiday accommodation in Wānaka and was conned into paying a $2000 deposit for a home that did not exist.
Both Ms Jago and Mr Thinkk felt that because Wānaka was a small community, the honour system and a general sense of trust still prevailed.
While this could be something that added to the region’s quaint lifestyle, as the population grew the admins said the community needed to be more careful and aware.
"I feel that we are, in New Zealand, we’re naive," Ms Jago said.
"In Wānaka we’re probably even more naive because of our friendly, trusting attitude to everyone else in the area."
