Scammers posing as Inland Revenue officials couldn't have chosen a worse target when they sent a phishing email to Revenue Minister Peter Dunne.
Mr Dunne and members of his staff today received emails claiming they had tax refunds waiting for them and urging them to click a link leading to a fake claim form.
The scam, known as phishing, attempts to trick recipients into giving out personal information.
Mr Dunne said Inland Revenue would never send people a link in an email, and urged people not to click links or reply to similar emails.
"People should be very careful about giving out their IRD number and any other personal details," he said.
The emails should be deleted from both inboxes and trash folders.
Mr Dunne said it was notoriously difficult to track down the people behind such scam emails and websites.
"So it is likely either Nigerian scammers or Labour trying to add to its email databases," he joked, referring to the revelation last month that thousands of people who signed an early childhood education petition had their email addresses added to a Labour Party database.
Labour said the email addresses were only used to update people about the progress of the petition..
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