Orcon customers forced to hunt for answers after spam attacks delay email services for weeks.

It's a couple of decades late, but Internal Affairs is cracking down on junk faxes, which from today lose their exemption under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act.

The Department of Internal Affairs is seeking further financial penalties against alleged spammer Brendan Battles in its third statement of claim against the man.

Private Bin got sent a rather strange email from Westpac New Zeeland yesterday asking customers to re-enter online banking details.

The email was spam (the incorrect spelling of New Zealand was the first give away) but apart from that and a weblink directing customers to a UK address, the email could have passed for authentic.

Westpac spokesperson Craig Dowling said such emails were “annoyingly common” and that its fraud department had been alerted and the website had been shut down.