About 70,000 Air NZ Airpoints customers caught in phishing scam

Air New Zealand has told about 70,000 Airpoints members some of their personal information has been caught in a phishing scam. While Airpoints accounts, passwords and credit card details were not accessed, the airline says some information relating to membership profiles may have been compromised. "We're sorry to advise that some of your personal information may have been affected by a recent phishing incident relating to two Air New Zealand staff accounts," the airline's regional general manager, loyalty and customer direct Jeremy O'Brien said. The airline's loyalty scheme has about two million members and it says it has proactively contacted a "limited" number - around 3.5% of its membership. The Privacy Commissioner's office said it had been notiified by the airline of the issue on July 31. An airline spokeswoman said Friday it had received confirmation yesterday of the customers potentially affected by this issue and had communicated directly with them. "We have notified the relevant regulatory bodies. Unfortunately, malicious attacks of this nature are becoming more common around the world and we apologise to our customers for any inconvenience," she said. O'Brien said the airline had secured the two affected accounts and was conducting a thorough investigation.<br/>