New Zealand Listener – August 24, 2019

AUGUST 24 2019 LISTENER 21

I

t was just an everyday transaction for

Dr Tarun Ahuja. The Dunedin-based

doctor needed a new phone, so, in

late June, he went onto Trade Me and

ordered a Samsung from reputable-

sounding supplier UDS Mart.

The company had a local-looking

website, udsmart.co.nz, an Auckland

address and thousands of positive customer

reviews. The ads clearly stated UDS would

handle all taxes and customs clearance pro-

cesses. The price was good. Ahuja paid up

and waited for the phone to arrive. It didn’t.

Instead, Ahuja found himself unwittingly

caught up in a New Zealand Customs crack-

down on a more than two-year-long scam.

ONLINE TAX SCAM’S

LONG EXPOSURE

GST CRACKDOWN

COULD YOU BE CAU

GHT BY

A CUSTOMS CRAC

KDOWN?

BORDER TAX SCAMS

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remarkable memoir

JUNE 22 - (^28 2019) NOTED.CO.NZ
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her career & passions coEmUrnPpeels^ li&tn R^ ugA KtThiwerOfi ostrMdor: (^) y VitSamoUrinN D^ :T suOppTleAmeLnts
winter rays?
Customs has cracked down on a GST rort revealed by the
Listener, leaving Trade Me to pay back thousands to customers
who had new cameras and smartphones seized. But why was
our biggest online marketplace so slow to act? by NIKKI MANDOW
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