“Phishing” increases as online consumers wise-up

by Gill Montia

Story link: “Phishing” increases as online consumers wise-up

Apacs, the organisation that represents payments services providers, has reported that the level of activity committed by criminals engaged in “phishing” is on the increase.

The overall extent of bank fraud in the UK has declined over the past year but the number of people receiving e-mails purporting to be from their bank and asking for personal banking details rose sharply in the first-quarter of 2008.

While around 3,400 people reported incidents of phishing between January and March 2007, the figure was over 10,000 for the same period of 2008.

The rise is probably due to renewed efforts from fraudsters who are aware that consumers are becoming more vigilant about online fraud and that they therefore need to send out more emails to attract a worthwhile number of victims.

Both the Financial Ombudsman Service and PayPal, the payments service firm, have confirmed that they have seen a rise in consumer concerns over phishing in recent months.

In the past year, PayPal has introduce a number of new security measures as industry statistics show that up to 75% of phishing scams purport to be from eBay or PayPal.

According to research by Apacs, the number of people either deleting or taking no action when receiving a phishing e-mail has increased from 75% in 2006, to 82% in 2007.

Losses from online banking fraud decreased by a third in 2007, to £22.6 million. The figure compares with £33.5 million in 2006.

However, personal awareness only offers so much protection from criminals. Up-to-date anti-virus software is essential, as is anti-spyware software.