The BBC this week ran a story "Which? highlights phishing losses" that documents the rising increase in the number of phishing attacks against UK financial institutions. The story says "Phishing frauds against UK banks have shot up from 40 to 1,000 a month in the past two years, say banking experts.".
The story then goes on to state that the UK consumer group "Which?" is calling on banks to give automatic compensation to phishing victims. The story states:
"A spokeswoman for the banking organisation Apacs said while this was true, there were no plans to change policies soon."
""The banks have all said they may do so in the future, because it (giving away confidential details) is like giving away your door keys," she said."
""But at the moment there are no current plans."'
"She explained that banks were not planning to punish innocent victims of online fraud, but in some cases might refuse to compensate someone who had suffered losses more than once, on the grounds that their negligence was a contributory factor. "
Finally, the story ends with "The banking industry estimates that £22m was lost to phishing frauds in the first half of 2006."
Bottom line: Think on it before you click on any link in an email message. If you don't, your identity and authentication information may be stolen and you may incurr a loss which you bank may or may not cover.
Guy
www.authenticationworld.com
guy.huntington@authenticationworld.com
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