How do I find out how an agency sending me junk mail got my information?

As a first step, you should get in touch with the agency in question and ask them where they got your information (you may also want to ask them to stop sending you mail).

Agencies are often allowed to use information that is publicly available − for example, they can use contact details they’ve found in a public phone book – so this may explain how they obtained your information in most cases.

However, it may raise issues under the Privacy Act if another agency disclosed your information to them, if they didn’t have a proper basis for doing so.

You may want to consider signing up to the ‘Do Not Mail(external link)’ service run by the Marketing Association as a way of decreasing unwanted mail (the Marketing Association also run a ‘Do Not Call(external link)’ service to help prevent calls from telemarketers).

If you received the mail by email, fax or text, you may also want to consider contacting the Department of Internal Affairs(external link), as it is the agency which enforces New Zealand’s anti-spam law.