Internet Banking Crime on a Soar, SABRIC

According to the South Africa Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), internet crime related to banks is the rapidly mounting crime across the world, as per reported by iol on October 9, 2008.

Phishing e-mails generally ask the users to click on the link given in them. These links direct the users to a fake Website, which is designed to fool the users who by mistake think it is the authentic one. In this way, even the most important financial information, contact details and several other sensitive data can be traced, thus, phishing turns out to be a profitable business for the scammers.

Moreover, spyware can enter PC in the guise of a joke, video clip or game. It cleverly installs itself and collects the users' credentials and forwards them to the scammer.

It is very likely that the consumer may fall into the trap of the scammers as such spoofed Websites seem to be the exact replica of the legitimate Websites. Normally, thousands of such phishing emails are sent by the scammers to the email accounts of the consumers with the intention of fooling the recipients so that they can reveal their personal credentials on fake online forms of the spoofed Websites.

Susan Potgieter, Head of Commercial Crime Office of SABRIC, stated that internet proves to be an advantage to consumers as it provides them unparalleled comforts of online banking, shopping and various other services. But, this very feature of internet is being exploited by cyber criminals to commit crime against unsuspected people. They (cyber criminals) make huge earnings by illegal means, as reported iol on October 9, 2008,

Further, it is recently reported by the Gtron Solutions that the spammers have compromised World Bank Group network (one of the biggest host of sensitive data).

However, the commercial crime office of SABRIC said that fight against bank-associated internet crime such as phishing has become more effective due to the consumer awareness but still, security expert suggests avoiding the use of internet cafes for online banking and preventing the access to the bank Websites via hyperlinks.

Related article: Internet Threat Volumes Overwhelm Security Companies

» SPAMfighter News - 10/20/2008