Report Email Spam
The Department of Internal Affairs is responsible for investigating complaints about unsolicited commercial electronic messages, commonly referred to as spam. If you want to report email spam there are two easy options. You can either fill out an online form or forward the spam email to us directly at complaint@spam.govt.nz
Both options should take less than 5 minutes so choose the one that best suits you by clicking one of the buttons below:
Remember - Never open an attachment or follow a link in an email from an unknown or untrusted sender!
If you would like to report another type of spam please see our TXT spam or Fax spam pages for information on how to do this.
Spam or unsolicited commercial electronic messages are marketing messages received from a business, organisation or an individual marketing or promoting their goods and services.
You may complain to Internal Affairs about spam sent to you through email using this online complaint form. If you receive a commercial electronic message that you have not consented to receiving then a breach of New Zealand legislation may have occurred. If you are unable to unsubscribe from a commercial electronic message, or you don't know who the message is from, this may also be a breach of the New Zealand legislation.
What is New Zealand's legislation on spam or Unsolicited Electronic Messages?
The New Zealand legislation that prohibits the sending of spam is the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007.
What does Internal Affairs do with my personal information?
To manage your complaint Internal Affairs may determine it necessary to disclose your email address to the organisation you are complaining about. For example, to ensure your email address has been removed from a marketing list or database. Internal Affairs will not release your email address under any circumstances unless it believes a business associated with your complaint is a “legitimate” entity. Internal Affairs manages your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Your complaint will be entered into our database for review and may be examined by one of our Investigators. Please note that due to the nature of email spam, we may not take action on every complaint.
Where numerous complaints are received about a particular spam campaign we may investigate the campaign as a whole. We appreciate you notifying us about this matter and welcome you to contact us if you receive any further unsolicited electronic messages from this entity or individual.