The head of specialist and economic crime at Scotland Yard has
issued a warning to customers of banks that are being targetted by
cyber criminals.
Nigel Mawer said the force is seeing an increase in phishing
scams as a result of the merger and acquisition activity in the
market.
With Lloyds TSB and HBOS merging, scammers are using this as an
opportunity to send e-mails requesting personal information.
According to an article in the Telegraph, Mawer said, "You can
imagine if your bank merges with another bank, then the phishers
can send an email saying 'as a result of the merger we just need to
reconfirm your details'. It gives them a degree more of credibility
around the phishing attack."
Martin Mackay, vice president EMEA at Verisign, said many people
in the UK are still largely in the dark when it comes to spotting a
phishing site. "At the moment cyber criminals are in a good
position to exploit the confusion caused by the banking crisis.
However there are easy ways for everyone to spot a fraudulent
site."
Verisign offers banks
Extended Validation SSL software to visually demonstrate that
its websites are genuine and help prevent its customers becoming
victims of increasing numbers of phishing scams. The software shows
a green bar when the site is genuine.
HSBC's retail division in the UK started using it last year to
give its three million online customers reassurance that they are
using a genuine HSBC website.
The Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) will
publish its latest fraud figures, including phishing attacks this
month.