Spark joins telco code in fight against spammers

In a continuing battle against online fraud, Spark is joining a telecommunications initiative to share information on scammers.

Spark is partnering with the New Zealand Telecommunications Forum, whose scam-calling prevention code aimed to improve the process of identifying, verifying and taking action on scam calls to landline and mobile phones.

The acting chief executive of Spark’s home, mobile and business division, Grant McBeath, said Spark previously lacked a simple way to co-ordinate with other service providers to block spam.

‘‘This new code puts in place processes and timeframes to quickly tackle scam calling patterns once we’ve identified them and share them amongst other networks for the benefit of all New Zealanders,’’ he said.

Vodafone and 2degrees have also partnered with the forum.

A Vodafone spokeswoman said that, as scam calls almost always originated overseas, no single carrier could effectively block them on their own.

According to Netsafe, Kiwis last year lost $10.1 million from online scams and fraud. The largest single loss reported was $480,000.

McBeath said that as technology improved, so did scams.

‘‘Even if we manage to reduce scam calls significantly through this new partnership, some scam calls will still get through. Ultimately, we need every individual to know what to look out for.’’