Symbio examines how to tighten up

The Australian company that supplied phone numbers used by fraudsters in two high-profile and prolific New Zealand scams says it is working with its customers to see if there is a way of reducing the risk of that happening again, however does not see an obvious solution.

The head of the police's National Cybercrime Centre

The head of the police's National Cybercrime Centre, Detective Senior Sergeant John van den Heuvel, said Sydney-based Symbio Networks, which is a legitimate business, provided Auckland phone numbers used by overseas scammers who called people posing as computer security technicians.

Earlier this year, Symbio Networks' service was used as a conduit for another scam involving fraudsters who posed as charity workers collecting donations in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake.

Internal Affairs warned last week that scammers were increasingly turning to the phone, taking advantage of cheap international voice-over-IP bcalls.

Symbio describes itself as the leading wholesale VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solution provider, carrying "millions of minutes" of wholesale voice traffic each day. It said it provided its service only to reputable customers, who were themselves intermediaries, and that it was clients of one of those firms that operated both scams.