9 November 2006
The number of phone, cheque and mail order fraud cases may have fallen by 5% in the last 12 months, but Brits are still being caught out by 'phishing' scams according to UK payments association Apacs.
A recent Apacs report showed a 55% increase in the number of losses recorded due to online banking, most of which were attributed to phishing scams.
Phishing is the name given to the practice of sending out an authentic-looking email to an account holder, stating that the bank needs conformation of their account information. The fraudsters then use this information to steal money from consumers' accounts.
Sandra Quinn, director of corporate communications at Apacs, said that every consumer could help prevent becoming a victim of phishing fraud by "keeping our PINs, passwords and personal information safe and secure".
Although this seems like common sense, the latest research from Apacs found that a quarter of Brits had disclosed their PIN to someone else, 27% admitted to having the same PIN for all their cards and more than half of online shoppers said they never checked that a website address changes from http to https before making a purchase.
Apacs has also been working alongside banks, card schemes, retailers and systems vendors, on an authentication system for potential use in both online and telephone shopping scenarios. They hope to be able to trial the scheme in 2007.
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