The UK has seen an 8,000% increase in fake internet banking scams in the past two years, the government's financial watchdog has warned.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) stated it was 'very concerned' about the sophistication and prevalence of phishing attacks. Between January and June of 2005, the number of reported phishing attacks in the UK was 312; the figure for the same period this year was 5,059.
It's estimated that a total of £46m will be stolen in the UK through such scams in 2006 alone. Philip Robinson, the FSA's head of financial crime, was quick to point out that online banking is generally 'safe', but that it was important banks were 'transparent and open' about security breaches to keep customer confidence high.
News source: BBC News
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) stated it was 'very concerned' about the sophistication and prevalence of phishing attacks. Between January and June of 2005, the number of reported phishing attacks in the UK was 312; the figure for the same period this year was 5,059.
It's estimated that a total of £46m will be stolen in the UK through such scams in 2006 alone. Philip Robinson, the FSA's head of financial crime, was quick to point out that online banking is generally 'safe', but that it was important banks were 'transparent and open' about security breaches to keep customer confidence high.
News source: BBC News
BBC, FYI they are real scams :p
BBC, FYI they are real scams :p
The statement is correct. read it like this "Fake Internet Banking" Scams
There are tons of fake internet banking sites springing up everywhere and these collectively are called scams.
Scam websites are "fake", not the scams themselves, which are very much real.
How hard would that be? "HSBC Plc will never send you an email regarding your account. Discard any such emails. Contact customer services on 0800 blah blah if you are in doubt about the authenticity of communications from HSBC Plc".
It's not great, but it'd be better than nothing?
DO NOT click on the URL with in that email.
Open your webbrowser and type in the Address your bank Gave you!
How hard is it to follow simple instructions from your bank? IMO the people who ignore the banks advice are
jsut asking for trouble.
does that mean it hasnt been stolen yet? :p
Maybe £44m is stolen, the remaining will be stolen here in chirstmas...
Having said that, a lot of banks offer free security nagware like McAfee for free, so that's at least something, but then again, it might be just a backup plan for them if a scammed customer demands money from the bank.
Although I do agree with you, that instead of stupid ads like Halifax puts up recently (with their customer service team rapping away about their 'extras'
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