There is a new way in which scammers get hold of your credit card and bank account details these days. This new way is called 'phishing'.
Phishing is a new variation of the scam of getting credit card and bank account information from victims dubiously.
This scam involves the sending of emails to victims designed to look as if they come from a bank or financial institution. Such emails direct the receipients to a website where they are asked to 'verify' personal data or credit card numbers.
As soon as they enter their real personal data or credit card numbers, such vital information become the property of the scammers.
A new survey by Gartner Inc, on this scam reports that "some 57 million US internet users have received emails luring them to fake websites in an effort to obtain bank or credit card information".
The survey also estimated that this type of fraud cost US banks and credit card issuers about $1.2-billion in 2003 alone.
Gartner analysts said that based on the survey, some 30 million adult internet users are almost certain to have received one of these pitches and another 27 million may have received them.
These schemes have a higher success rate than many other fraud attempts, according to the Gartner survey completed in April 2004.
Gartner also estimates that about 19 percent of those receiving the phishing emails, or nearly 11 million US adults users, have clicked on the link in a phishing email. And some three percent, or an estimated 1.78 million adults, report giving phishers their financial or personal information.
The data indicate that "phishing attack victims are almost three times as prone to identity-theft related fraud as other online consumers," according to Avivah Litan, vice president and research director at Gartner.
Phishing attacks are not new, but they have become more pervasive in the past 12 months. According to the Gartner survey, 76 percent of the known or suspected phishing scams occurred since October 2003, and another 16 percent occurred during the six months before then.
To protect yourself from 'Phishing', take note of the following:
