Phishing scams on the increase
Phishing attacks are on the increase with more than 10,000 incidents recorded in the first quarter of 2008 – up over 200 per cent from the same period last year.
Phishing scams are on the increase, Apacs warns" class="imageframe alignright" height="200" src="http://pictures.directnews.co.uk/liveimages/Homeworking_1455_18551688_0_0_7007637_300.jpg" width="200"/>Phishing attacks are on the increase with more than 10,000 incidents recorded in the first quarter of 2008 – up over 200 per cent from the same period last year.
The Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) said 10,235 incidents were reported during the first three months of this year, compared to 25,797 in 2007 as a whole.
Phishing is the name given to emails claiming to be from an individual's bank, soliciting information, but are actually sent by fraudsters.
Such emails typically urge account holders to click on a link that takes them to a fake website, identical to the one you would expect to see, where customers are then asked to verify or update personal security information.
In doing so, however, the phishing victim is actually giving information to the fraudster who has created the fake website.
Although online banking fraud losses decreased by a third from £33.5 million in 2006 to £22.6 million in 2007, the fraudsters are still having some success in duping customers with phishing emails.
As a result the industry is keen to remind customers to remain on their guard to these scams.
"Although online banking fraud losses fell last year the fraudsters clearly aren't giving up," said Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs.
"Phishing scams are continuing to rise and they are becoming ever more sophisticated, which is why we want to remind people to remain wise to them.
"The advice is quite simple: just remember that your bank will never send you emails asking you to disclose PIN numbers, login details or complete passwords – if you receive an email of this nature you should delete it."