Online banking fraud on the rise

 

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By Hani Megerisi

Posted on 10 Mar 2010 at 16:48

Cases of online banking fraud have risen by 14% over the past five years, a new study has found.

This increase has brought a significant rise in banking phishing scams, with 51,000 cases recorded in the UK last year.

“The thing is that phishing attacks have only been around in the UK since 2004 and it’s gone from 1,000 in a year to many thousands per month,” said a spokeswoman for industry body Financial Fraud Action UK.

This isn’t just some man in a room these are large and sophisticated organisations conducting these scams

She said increases were going “hand-in-hand” with a rise in the number of people using online banking, which has grown to approximately 23 million. “The more people banking online the more fraudsters are going to be able to get through.”

The rise coincides with a drop in online and point-of-sale credit card fraud, which has fallen by 25%.

“Online banking fraud and credit card fraud are very different things,” added the spokeswoman. “I think… it’s wrong to say that [fraudsters] are moving between mediums or that it’s even the same group. This isn’t just some man in a room these are large and sophisticated organisations conducting these scams”.