Florist faces landmark cyber-crime court case

Florist Richie Davies (pictured with Tanya Koens) called in the police. Photo / Glenn Taylor

The first hint of trouble for florist Natasha Sefton-Zachan was when customers told her Google Maps had her phone number wrong.

So the businesswoman from Taradale near Napier went online to find out what was going on.

There, she says, she found a history of changes affecting Napier's florists that is now three web-pages long, uncovering what is believed to be a first in New Zealand cyber crime charges.

Police believe Mrs Sefton-Zachan was the victim of rival florist Kendra Drinkwater, who they allege had tampered online with her competitors' details to gain a business advantage.

Mrs Sefton-Zachan said she went online to discover the phone number for her business, The Flower Barrow, which was listed on a Google Maps database that can be edited by anyone, had been changed.

She called around the close-knit florist community to ask if anyone knew anything.

She compared notes with fellow florist Richie Davies, who owns Flowers by Tanya - and he called the police.

Drinkwater, 40, faces charges for allegedly tampering with the business details of her competitors, something police believe occurred dozens of times between November 1 and December 4.

She is due to appear in court four days before Christmas to face computer crime charges that could see her jailed for up to seven years.

Mrs Sefton-Zachan said that in the 10 days after she was informed of the changes, a daily tit-for-tat took place between her and whoever was changing her details.

First it was a couple of digits in her phone number, then a number added to or dropped from her postal address. Then her website address was changed, then her street address.

"It's just a pain," she said.

"It's just really inconsiderate. I was just getting sick of changing it, it's just a waste of time."

But Mrs Sefton-Zachan said she felt sorry for Drinkwater, because she had heard she was the mother of a young boy.

"She's obviously made a bad move and it's gone bad. I do feel for her," she said.

Another Napier florist, Emma McIlroy from Florist Gump, said she also had to keep changing her details.

"It happened right up until last week," she said.

"It's just basic stuff ... [but] it has been rather annoying."

Ms McIlroy said she hadn't noticed a drop off in business.

"It's one of those things that you can't really work out how much it would have affected you."

Google NZ spokeswoman Annie Baxter said such incidents were not common.

"Cases of that being done with ill-intent are incredibly rare. This is the first time we've heard of something like this in New Zealand."

Business owners could protect themselves by logging on to Google Maps and verifying themselves.

A phonecall to the business or a pin number would be sent allowing only the business owner to change the details.

Several phonecalls made to Drinkwater's home went unanswered yesterday. Police have begun more detailed recording of the country's computer crime with a small team of four staff making up the National Cyber Crime Centre, known as NC3, starting up two months ago.

The team is set to streamline the flow of information to provide a better picture on how much is going on and provide national and international e-crime patrols.