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Aims This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a high (≥12) Finnish diabetes risk (FINDRISC) score in identifying undiagnosed prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in an New Zealand population of overweight and obese individuals, across a variety of ethnic groups. Methods We estimated the efficacy of elevated FINDRISC scores in predicting prediabetes and T2D in 424 overweight adults with no prior diagnosis recruited for the PREVention of diabetes through lifestyle Interventions in Europe and Worldwide (PREVIEW) study. All participants who completed the FINDRISC questionnaire during a pre-screening phase with a score of ≥12 were then screened using a 2 h oral glucose tolerance test (2h-OGTT) to identify undiagnosed dysglycaemia. Results Of the 424 participants, 65% (n = 280) were pre-diabetic and 7% (n = 32) had undiagnosed T2D. A higher FINDRISC score was significantly associated with prediabetes and T2D (P = 0.02). There was a significant association between ethnicity and glycaemic status (normal vs prediabetes/T2D, P = 0.02). Increasing the FINDRISC cut-off to ≥15 resulted in a non-significant increase in the proportion of participants correctly classified with dysglycaemia. ROC-AUC = 0.6 with sensitivity = 0.6026 (95% CI: 0.5459–0.6573) and specificity = 0.5536 (95% CI: 0.4567–0.6476). Isolated impaired fasting glucose (IFG) was more efficient in predicting dysglycaemia than isolated impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Conclusions The FINDRISC questionnaire is a useful and efficacious screening tool to identify unknown prediabetes and T2D in overweight New Zealanders, particularly in Maori individuals.