Sex crim register relies on Wynyard

Cyber safety organisation NetSafe says a crackdown on Indian call centre scammers by United States authorities is ‘‘significant’’ but probably won’t stem the tide of phone scams being carried out against New Zealanders.

The US Justice Department has charged 61 people and companies over call centre scams run out of India, similar to ones that have plagued customers around the world including in New Zealand.

NetSafe executive director Martin Cocker said the charges sent a message that law enforcement authorities would make an effort to chase down scammers but did not expect it would have an impact on the number of scams targeting Kiwis.

In 2011 alone, 50,000 New Zealanders were sucked into ‘‘tech support’’ scams, also believed to have been based in India, losing an estimated $10 million.

Companies posed on the web as legitimate technology support businesses, cold-calling people and telling people their computers were infected.

The scammers then persuaded people to hand over remote access to their computers and sold them fake security software.

Last year the scam returned to New Zealand, with the scammers often claiming they worked for Microsoft in tech support.

The scams targeted by the US crackdown threatened potential victims with arrest, imprisonment, fines or deportation if they did not pay fake taxes or penalties. They targeted at least 15,000 people who lost more than US$300 million (NZ$421 million).

Phone scams of that nature have also been a regular scourge in New Zealand.

Payments by US victims were laundered by a US network of coconspirators using prepaid debit cards or wire transfers, often using stolen or fake identities.

Twenty people have been arrested in the US and another 32 individuals and five call centres in India have been charged, according to the US Justice Department.

US assistant attorney-general Leslie Caldwell said the US government would be seeking the extradition of those based in India.

‘‘It’s really important for the scammers in India to know that the United States is looking at this, is watching them and they could, if they engage in that activity, be extradited to the United Sates and could sit in jail … for several years,’’ she said.

Cocker said ‘‘tech support’’ scams still made up a significant number of the scam reports handled by NetSafe.

It is believed some were run by once-legitimate Indian tech support companies that switched to crime during hard times.

The scam has become more sophisticated: Instead of a phone call, people might now get a pop-up message on their computers telling them to call an 0800 number.

Despite the US legal action, the most Kiwis could do right now was to report incidents, Cocker said. ‘‘The focus has to be on enabling consumers to protect themselves.’’ TOM PULLAR-STRECKER The failure of software company Wynyard could have implications for the country’s new $35 million Child Protection Offender Register (CPOR) as well as the way police manage major criminal investigations.

Efforts have started to protect the police’s multimillion-dollar investment in Wynyard’s software, which supports the CPOR and complex investigations.

A source said police had requested improvements to the investigation software demanded by some police districts, and that Wynyard had been due to deliver these by April.

If the need for imminent upgrades is correct, that could cast a shadow over the police’s investment in Wynyard’s software.

Police would not comment directly on the claim, but a spokeswoman said it was ‘‘continuing to work as normal with Wynyard as it goes through the voluntary administration process’’. ‘‘This includes delivering new and updated features. There should be no changes to the delivery of services to police at this time.’’

Wynyard was placed into voluntary administration on Tuesday. Grant Graham from KordaMentha said it had been in contact with police ‘‘ensuring their service has been uninterrupted’’.

Wynyard’s case management system Wynyard Investigator has been used by police since 2013 to manage major investigations.

Wynyard announced in 2014 that its software was also being configured to support the CPOR, which is designed to help agencies monitor and update the personal information of convicted sex offenders after their release.