UK bankers show 44% rise in online theft
APACS study records major increase in phishing fraud earnings.
UK banking payments body APACS has released its latest figures for credit card and other types of banking
fraud, showing a sizeable drop in straight card fraud but a similarly large rise in funds stolen via phished
online banking details. The figures compared reports for 2006 to those received in 2005.
Standard credit card fraud taking place at the point of sale in UK retailers fell by 47%, thanks mostly to the
introduction of 'chip-and-pin' systems to replace signature-based authentication. A jump in card scamming
abroad, with signatures still the main form of identification, brought the total back up but there was still
an overall decrease of 3%. Cheque fraud was also down, by 24%, in line with a general decline in cheque usage.
Online fraud, however, went up by a massive 44%, with £33.5 million scammed from online bank accounts.
This compares to £23.2 Million in 2005 and just £12.2 million in 2004. Phishing 'incidents' are
recorded at 14,156, also a huge rise from the 1,713 reported the previous year. No distinction is made in the
report between banking details obtained via spammed links to spoofed banking sites and login information
stolen by spyware.
'These figures reflect a worrying trend which is hitting banks and their customers worldwide,' said
John Hawes, Technical Consultant at Virus Bulletin. 'The
phishing problem is growing in scale and sophistication, with technical advances and new social engineering
techniques spotted almost daily. The banks need to shoulder some of the responsibility for this, and ensure
their online systems are as secure as possible, but users will always be a weak link in the chain and need
to exercise caution when carrying out financial transactions across the web, particularly avoiding responding
to unexpected emails requesting personal information.'
The report from APACS is available
here.
Coinciding with these fraud figures, security measures in UK banks have come under fire in a report from the
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which criticises several major banks for disposing of sensitive
customer data in an insecure manner. Its report, naming 11 banks found to have dumped paperwork with personal
information in freely-accessible waste bins, can be found
here (PDF format).
A list of the banks, and links to their signed undertakings to improve disposal methods, is
here.
14 March 2007
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