Dealing with Unwanted Calls and Text Messages

If you have received a call of a serious nature, contact your local Police station for advice. Such calls or text messages could be considered a criminal offence, or may involve criminal activity and should be discussed with the Police.
A call of a serious nature may include:

• A threat to kill or seriously injure a person
• A threat to damage property
• Sexually explicit language, behaviour or pictures
• If you have received a life-threatening call or text message contact the Police immediately.

If the calls you are receiving are the subject of a Protection Order, we advise you to contact the Police, as the calls may be a breach of the Protection Order.

If you receive an unwanted message, don't reply, even if you know the number. Sometimes the best advice is to ignore it, but this depends on the circumstances. You can find out more information about mobile bullying below.

We take mobile bullying seriously and there's no need for you to put up with it. There are a lot of things you can do to help yourself and others to stop mobile bullying. Here are some tips to follow if you are receiving text messages or calls that are bullying.

• Only give your mobile number to trusted friends and family.
• When using chat services, remember people are not always who they say they are.
• Talk to your parents, a teacher or counsellor before a problem gets too bad.
• Keep any horrible messages on your mobile or make a note of the date, time, originating number and content. You may need this information if the problem gets out of control.

• If you get a message from an unknown number, don't reply.
• If you get a nasty message, don't reply even if you know the number.
• Don't send anything that could offend others. Before sending a message, ask yourself - could that person be hurt or offended by this message?
• Don't send a photo or video message of others without their permission. Always ask first!

Netsafe is a New Zealand organisation set up to help keep you safe. You can call them on 0508 NETSAFE (0508 638 723) or e-mail queries@netsafe.org.nz.


If the bullying persists, or you are worried you can:

• Call us on *123 from your mobile and we can change your number.
• Contact us with the dates and times of contacts that have not been replied to over the last seven days via the Unwanted Call Log.
• Report severe bullying, especially if the bully is threatening to harm, to the Police.
  

These calls are dialled randomly making no number immune to receiving them, even numbers that are not published by Directory Services. These callers may present themselves as representing valid companies in an attempt to obtain personal details or access to your computer. Detailed examples on some of the latest scams can be found at the Department of Internal Affairs website http://www.dia.govt.nz/Services-Anti-Spam-Reported-Scams.

These calls mainly originate from overseas call centres and are made via the internet, making them difficult to stop them coming through. If you have the Caller Display service, the number displayed may appear as invalid number i.e. they may be 3 - 5 digits in length or be unusual number ranges e.g. 0881234567.

The best way of dealing with these calls is to not engage in conversation and immediately hang up. Do not provide any personal information. If calls persist, you could

• unplug your telephone for a period of time
• set your Call Minder answering service to zero rings to answer your calls for you, and authentic callers can leave a message for you
• consider changing your telephone number as the last option, if the calls persist

These are automated calls made by an overseas computer to random numbers. When the phone starts ringing the computer transfers the call to a person in a contact centre to talk to you. If there is no agent is available, and you answer the call, you will hear a moment of silence followed by a computer voice saying 'Goodbye'.

As these calls are computer generated, numbers are dialled in clusters for a defined period of time. As with international telephone scams, if the calls are originating via the internet they are difficult to stop. If you have the Caller Display service, the number displayed may appear as invalid number i.e. they may be 3 - 5 digits in length or be unusual number ranges e.g. 0881234567.

The best way to manage these calls is to hang up as they should naturally stop.

These are calls where either there is just background noise, the sound of breathing or the call is hung up shortly after you answer. These are usually a result of a wrong number being dialled or a child playing with a telephone. If you are experiencing these types of call, simply hang up and ignore them. If these calls persist we can investigate them. Dates and times of calls received over the last seven days must be provided to our team in order for us to begin an investigation. It is important to note, that if a return call is made to the number we may be are unable to assist. You can contact us by completing the Unwanted Call Log form.

These are commonly fax or modem calls and are easily recognised by the distinctive 'beeps' and 'screeches'. These calls tend to occur as a result of mis-dialling when trying to send a fax or access a computer network. Often there is a pattern to the calls as the machine redials repeatedly before alerting the issue to the originator. The best way to deal with these calls is to

• unplug your telephone for a period of time
• set your Call Minder answering service to zero rings to answer your calls for you, and authentic callers can leave a message for you

As with all non-speech type calls, we can investigate if they are causing you ongoing concern. You can contact us by completing the Unwanted Call Log form. If the calls originate from the Internet, and are causing you great concern you may need to consider changing your number.