45 Pipitea Street, Thorndon, Wel ington 6011
PO Box 805, Wel ington 6140
23 June 2023
Phone +64 4 495 7200
Email
[email address]
Websit
e www.dia.govt.nz
James
[FYI request #22905 email]
Tēnā koe James
Your Official Information Act 1982 request, reference OIA 2223-0895
I am responding to your email of 25 May 2023 to Te Tari Taiwhenua | the Department of
Internal Affairs requesting the following information under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act):
1. Please outline your process for combating TXT message scam with the free of
charge 7726 service offered by DIA. At what point do you flag with telcos that
DIA believes a cel phone number is being used to scam?
2.
Please provide the number of unique cel phone numbers that have been
reported to the telcos because DIA suspects it is being used to spam since the
start of March to now.
Question one
Te Tari Taiwhenua’s process for combating text message scams can be found on page 12 of
the 2022 Digital Messaging Transparency Report (the Transparency Report), located at
dia.govt.nz/Spam-Transparency-reports.
Image 6 within the Transparency Report shows the digital messaging harmful investigative
process. The 7726 service is in the ‘SMS reports system’ in this eco-system.
Question two
Cel phone numbers that are reported by the public as possible sender of a spam message
are sent directly as an automated report to the relevant telecommunications company. The
report also includes the list of cel phone numbers of spam recipients.
The Transparency Report contains a section entitled
Our approach to keeping New Zealand
safe. This section explains that the telecommunication company decides what action to take.
If it concludes that further investigation is required, then information is sent to Te Tari
Taiwhenua.
Te Tari Taiwhenua does not decide if a unique number is being used for spam purposes and
does not hold the information requested in part two of your request. Therefore, I am
refusing this part of your request under section 18(g)(i) of the Act.
Access to the Ombudsman
You have the right, under section 28(3) of the Act, to seek an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman of this response. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
We intend to publish our response to your request on www.dia.govt.nz. This letter, with
your personal details removed, will be published in its entirety. Publishing responses
increases the availability of information to the public and is consistent with the Act’s
purpose of enabling more effective participation in the making and administration of laws
and policies and promoting the accountability of Ministers and officials.
Nāku noa, nā
Anita Balakrishnan
Tumuaki I Director Ministerial, Monitoring and Capability
