Increase in scam complaints is reminder to stay careful online over the holidays

15 December 2022

Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) warns Aotearoa to be aware of scammers over the holidays.

With Christmas and the summer holidays just around the corner, scammers have been trying to take advantage of people shopping online.

Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has been receiving hundreds of complaints about large-scale phishing scams the public should be aware of. It’s a reminder that it’s particularly important to stay vigilant and look out for scams these holidays.

A recent scam involves people being sent a text message with a link to a website that can be used to gain the recipient’s financial information. Engaging with these messages results in significant financial loss. If you are a victim of these scams, please contact your bank and lodge a complaint with the Police.

One of the most common scams will see the sender attempt to entice the recipient to click on a link to confirm their ‘stuck delivery’.



The recipient is then directed to a payment order form for a charge of $2-3NZD to proceed further. If the recipient provides their details, the scammer will use their credentials to log in and steal money from the target’s account, or on-sell the credentials to others.



Keep yourself and your whānau safe online over the holidays. If you receive a text you were not expecting or a text message from an unknown sender, do not click any hyperlinks included in the message. Simply report the text spam for free on your phone by forwarding the spam text message to 7726.

How to report a spam message

SMS text spam: You can report text spam for free on your phone by forwarding the spam text message to 7726. DIA will contact you with details on how to complete a report.

Email spam: If the email has no attachments, then you can complete a short online form on our website. If the email has attachments or may be malicious you can simply forward it us: complaint@spam.govt.nz

Help and Guidance

Department of Internal Affairs: If you want more information about what to do if you receive spam, please check out our factsheet. For more information about how to avoid being exposed to spam and online scams you can visit our webpage here: Tips for avoiding spam

Netsafe: If you want more information about harassment and abuse under the Harmful Digital Communications Act and all types of scams, you can visit https://www.netsafe.org.nz/

Consumer Protection: For more information about how to minimize the impact of spam and scams, visit Consumer Protection on www.consumerprotection.govt.nz