Short answer: Immigration New Zealand only emails from @immigration.govt.nz or @mbie.govt.nz. Any other address — including ones containing "immigration", "nz" or "visa" — is not INZ, no matter how official the letter looks.
What scammers use instead
Addresses built to look official, such as an "immigration" or "visa" word joined to a .com or .org domain. The logo, layout and reference numbers can all be copied. The address cannot be.
What a real INZ letter contains
A case officer name, an application or client number you can see in your own Immigration Online account, and instructions to pay fees inside that account — never to a personal bank account, an agent's account, cryptocurrency or a money transfer shop.
The one check that cannot be faked
Log in to your own Immigration Online account. If the letter or decision is not there, it did not come from INZ. If you do not have an account yet, create a RealMe login through INZ's own website.
Check an address and a website
Our free checker flags lookalike addresses and looks up how recently a website's domain was registered. Read the full case here: Fake INZ letters and job offer scams.