Cyber safety

What to do if you have received a Scam text (SMS) or phone call

Have you been contacted by a unknown or unrecognised number via text (SMS) or phone call requesting personal information?

This could be a scam and the caller or sender (bot) is aiming to deceptively obtain your personal information such as debit / credit card details, email address and more.

If you do receive a phone call or text (SMS) message from a number that you do not know, an international number or a phone call that is requiring personal and credit / debit card information from you, or is requiring you to pay for a service, or a fee that you have not otherwise subscribed to, ignore the message, do not reply to it, or end the call immediately and report the scam to us.

Scam calls and text (SMS) messages are not:

• Prank calls

• Numbers from known people

Prank calls and spam from a known number would be considered a misuse / nuisance and should also be reported.

To do this please contact our Skinny Care Team.

Please keep in mind that Skinny does not have control over international Scam calls or texts (SMS) as we do not have access to contact their cell provider, overseas. Landline numbers may also be difficult to identify, however Skinny would like to hear from you if you have received such calls or texts (SMS) so that we can add to our records. 

Skinny also cannot guarantee that we can stop these scam texts or calls but will aim to do our best and report the information. You may be able to block the number on your mobile.

What is being done to stop text Spam?

The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 is designed to help prevent Spam. You can complain about spam to the Department of Internal Affairs' Electronic Messaging Compliance team. The Department may investigate these complaints and take the appropriate action.

Criteria for reporting a scam call or text (SMS):

• You have received and reported (in accordance with our reporting information below) one instance of malicious contact.

• The instance(s) of contact occurred within the last seven days

• In a case of a scam phone call, the duration of the call was under one minute

• You did not try to contact the malicious number since they first made contact

How to report a Scam Call or Text:

To report a scam call or text, please contact our care team. 

We are available on;

• Chat via our Ask Gina Bot. Just ask to speak with a "Live Agent" and you will be transferred over to one of us. We are available on Chat between 8am and 7pm Monday - Friday and 9am - 5:30pm Saturday and Sunday.

• Facebook Messenger via our Skinny Facebook Page 8am till 5:30pm Monday - Friday

• Email support@skinny.co.nz

If you are certain that you have been contacted by a Scammer you can also report the scam to Netsafe https://report.netsafe.org.nz/hc/en-au/requests/new.

Alternatively there are two other ways to report text Spam:

 1. Text 7726 

Forward the Spam text to 7726

You will receive a reply from 7726 requesting the number that the Spam text came from.

Reply to 7726 with the number the Spam text came from, job done!

Here’s an example:

You received a text from 898900 saying, “You’ve won a $1million dollars. Please reply to this message with your name and address.”

Forward the above text to 7726.

You will then receive a reply from 7726 requesting you to send the number the Spam text came from.

Reply with 898900.

2. Online

 Fill out an online form on the Department of Internal Affairs website.