New Zealand hackers altered a person's identity and added details of their own pets onto the electoral roll, it has emerged.

Kylene Soar, 23, claims she was stunned when she received a letter from the New Zealand electoral roll centre asking her to confirm that she had changed her middle name from Fay to Fat Ass.

According to the New Zealand Herald newspaper, it is simple to log on to the Electoral Enrolment Centre's website and change a person's details. All that is needed is the person's full name, date of birth and the street number of their home.

As well as offending Miss Soar, the hackers apparently tried to list a basset hound with prolific toilet habits as 'a cable-layer'.

A spokesman for the the Electoral Enrolment Centre said that Miss Soar's details had not been changed on the electoral roll and that the whole point of their letter was to ask for her signature to confirm whether her details should be changed.

The spokesman said that the prank was only the second of its type on their website. It was no easier to pull the stunt on the internet than it was to do it in a post office with an electoral change-of-details form, he said.

But Kylene Soar said she was very sensitive about her weight and as a result was angry that an enemy could attack her via the website.