There's no holiday from spammers and phishers

Westpac customers are being told to ignore emails purportedly from the bank's Australian office after a new wave of spam emails flooded inboxes over the holidays.

Spamming has been particularly rife over Christmas, with at least one internet service provider, Paradise, experiencing a backlog of email due to a 250 per cent increase in the volume of messages.

In Westpac's case, spam takes a sinister turn, with fraudsters targeting Westpac's 1.3 million customers. The emails attempt to extract personal banking details in a method known as "phishing". The emails advise customers to update their details and provide a link to a fake online banking log-in page.

Westpac spokesman Mark Watts said the link should not be opened.

"Westpac would never, ever send out messages asking for those sorts of details, as indeed no bank would."

He said the emails had some wording "quirks" that should alert most people to their authenticity. He advises people to delete the emails, or if in doubt, to ring the bank. No customers had been duped by the latest scam, he said.

Mr Watts said the emails highlight the importance of online security.

"We're confident that our systems and the integrity of our systems are safe, and we've been fairly quick off the mark in terms of advising customers how to respond to this sort of spam."

The Code Fish Spam Watch website believes the same fraudsters who recently targeted National Australia Bank customers were behind the emails, which were also circulated to Westpac's Australian customers. It recommends people block the emails.

Earlier this week, Australian police shut down eight overseas websites after thousands of people received bogus emails purportedly from their bank.

Meanwhile, Paradise internet customers are finally receiving new email in normal time, although several million emails remain undelivered from last week.

Spam usually accounts for about 60 per cent of all email received by Paradise, but last week, spam accounted for about 90 per cent of volume.

TelstraClear spokesman Mathew Bolland said much of spam was from fraudsters.

"Phishing scams are not unusual, but the sheer volume of them is higher than normal."

WHAT TO DO

* Do not reply or click on the link

* Delete the email

* Block the sender from your email address

* Update your anti-virus software

* More information: Westpac, 0800 400-600, or visit Spamwatch.  See links below.

- additional reporting NZPA