Don't panic - Kevin Edmonds is fine and well, his email just got hacked

A lot of people in Whanganui are worried about Kevin Edmonds, but the man himself has no such concerns.

Unusual messages asking for favours and sums of money have been sent from Edmonds' email and he's been inundated with family and friends asking about his situation.

"My son rang and says 'I've got one where they're saying you're in Asia and $10,000 will get you home'. I think he would have settled leaving me there," Edmonds said while laughing.

One email sent to a golfing friend talks in detail about how Edmonds had suddenly travelled to Ukraine to help a sick cousin and that he now needed $12,000 to help pay for surgery.

Other emails are just asking people to come over.

"My neighbours saw an email and they thought 'what the hell'. Now my golfing friends and that, they're all getting emails saying 'help, come and see me'.

"Then my builder from three years ago ... him and his wife walked around. They thought I was ill or something was crook."

It was frustrating for Edmonds who didn't understand how it had happened.

"They've just stolen from my identity and I feel embarrassed now because I've dealt with a lot of people in Whanganui, I've been here for 77 plus odd years. It just doesn't gel."

He said the trouble started when he tried to log in last week and the email server wouldn't accept his password.

He had work done to clean up his computer by both Spark and a local IT specialist. The emails appear to have stopped but Edmonds has lost everything he had in the account.

Kevin Edmonds is frustrated with the emails being sent out of his account by a hacker.

"It's been hacked and signed by someone and they're signing my name to the emails.

"I feel embarrassed because people are looking at it and saying 'why's he emailing me' and they've gone and opened them."

No money was lost in the process but Edmonds did lose all of his old emails.

"I've checked all my [bank] accounts and that and they're okay.

"It's just a warning to older generations like me that aren't so sure of computers that everything's completely gone ... wiped. It's just a damn nuisance."

And Kevin Edmonds is adamant he's just fine. He doesn't need any favours or money.

"So if anyone gets one [an email], don't open it."