14 DAY TRIAL // A study published by APACS, a UK payment association, reveals what was already known by all of us: the number of the phishing attacks is continuously increasing. According to a report published by the mentioned association, there were no less than 10,235 reported phishing scams in the first quarter of 2008, compared to only 3,394 attempts in the same period of 2007. This means that the number of phishing attacks has almost tripled in approximately one year!
Back in 2006, the total number of reported phishing scams was 14,156 while 2007 brought no less than 25,797. However, the first quarter of 2008 came with the largest amount of phishing scams which represents almost a third of the total number of scams recorded in 2007. And more important, experts predict even more attacks in the future, namely in the next quarters.
"Although online banking fraud losses fell last year the fraudsters clearly aren't giving up. Phishing scams are continuing to rise and they are becoming ever more sophisticated, which is why we want to remind people to remain wise to them," Sandra Quinn, director of communications at APACS, stated.
"The advice is quite simple: just remember that your bank will never send you emails asking you to disclose PIN numbers, login details or complete passwords - if you receive an email of this nature you should delete it. If you think your details have been compromised you should contact your bank immediately."
According to the same report, 93 percent of users currently have antivirus technologies on their computers but only 29 percent of the consumers forgot about anti-spyware solutions so they didn't install one. Such a security software is quite important especially in an era when phishers and attackers are more and more focused on infected attachments included in the emails they send to their victims.