Study: 'Phishing' scams net $500 million

Dom · Sep 29, 2004, 11:13 PM

The online cons known as "phishing" have cost U.S. consumers $500 million, according to a study released Wednesday.

In addition, the study found that three-quarters of wired Americans have noticed an increase in phishing incidents during the past few months, with one-third saying they've receiving e-mails sent under fraudulent pretenses at least once a week. The study, sponsored by Truste, a nonprofit privacy group, and NACHA, an electronic payments association, surveyed 1,335 Internet users across the United States.

Phishing scams use e-mails that appears to come from trusted companies to lure people to bogus Web sites, where they're asked to divulge sensitive personal information, such as credit card data. Attacks frequently target bank customers, but recent scams have sought out users of Gmail and Amazon.com.

While the consensus is that attacks are on the upswing, there are disagreements about the severity of the damage. Truste arrived at the $500 million figure by applying the survey's $115 average loss per victim to the general Internet population, spokeswoman Carolyn Hodge said. The tally is for all phishing fraud to date, she said. That finding differs from a Gartner study released in June, which calculated that a whopping $2.4 billion was lost to phishing fraud in a 12 month-period.

At least 70 percent of respondents to the survey, which was conducted by the Ponemon Institute, an Arizona think tank, said they had visited a spoofed Web site. About 15 percent of those people said they had parted with private data such as credit card numbers, checking account information and social security numbers.

[Read More]

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Source: ZDnet

phishdude · Sep 30, 2004, 12:17 AM

i like phish.

caqde · Sep 30, 2004, 01:45 AM

?? come on people. THINK!!!

I am severely disappointed... I can't believe people are that gullable. oh well. At least I know better.

Sep 29, 2004, 11:13 PM	#1
Dom DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 12,940 Rep Power: 0	Study: 'Phishing' scams net $500 million The online cons known as "phishing" have cost U.S. consumers $500 million, according to a study released Wednesday. In addition, the study found that three-quarters of wired Americans have noticed an increase in phishing incidents during the past few months, with one-third saying they've receiving e-mails sent under fraudulent pretenses at least once a week. The study, sponsored by Truste, a nonprofit privacy group, and NACHA, an electronic payments association, surveyed 1,335 Internet users across the United States. Phishing scams use e-mails that appears to come from trusted companies to lure people to bogus Web sites, where they're asked to divulge sensitive personal information, such as credit card data. Attacks frequently target bank customers, but recent scams have sought out users of Gmail and Amazon.com. While the consensus is that attacks are on the upswing, there are disagreements about the severity of the damage. Truste arrived at the $500 million figure by applying the survey's $115 average loss per victim to the general Internet population, spokeswoman Carolyn Hodge said. The tally is for all phishing fraud to date, she said. That finding differs from a Gartner study released in June, which calculated that a whopping $2.4 billion was lost to phishing fraud in a 12 month-period. At least 70 percent of respondents to the survey, which was conducted by the Ponemon Institute, an Arizona think tank, said they had visited a spoofed Web site. About 15 percent of those people said they had parted with private data such as credit card numbers, checking account information and social security numbers. [Read More] ___________________ Source: ZDnet

Sep 30, 2004, 01:45 AM	#3
caqde HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: US, IL Posts: 502 Rep Power: 64 System Specs	?? come on people. THINK!!! I am severely disappointed... I can't believe people are that gullable. oh well. At least I know better. __________________ AMD Phenom II X4 925 AM3/ Giga-byte MA790XT-UD4P XFX HD5770 1GB / 2x2GB of GSKILL DDR3 10666 8-8-8-23 Samsung SH-S182D DVD-RW drive / Sony Optiarc BD-5300S BD-RW drive Western Digital WD1501FASS(Primary)/Western Digital 15EADS(Secondary)/Western Digital 7500AACS(Secondary)/Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb(Secondary)/Western Digital 3200KS 16MB 7200rpm SATAII HD(Secondary) Antec TP-550 / CoolerMaster CMStacker Sound Blaster X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Professional / Creative Inspire 6600 6.1 speakers Samsugn T200HD 20" LCD Monitor / Logitech Internet 350 Black Keyboard Logitech MX510 Mouse

Sep 30, 2004, 12:17 AM	#2
phishdude DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 58 Rep Power: 0	i like phish.