May 26, 2004 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — According to a report by research and analysis firm Netcraft (netcraft.com) that cites data from the Anti-Phishing Working Group (antiphishing.org), April saw yet another surge in phishing scams with 1,125 unique schemes being perpetrated, up 180 percent from March’s total of 402 scams. The total is the highest ever recorded and according to the report, is 4000 percent higher than the November 2003 tally of 28.
r
r
Phishing attacks involve the mass distribution of “spoofed” or forged email messages with return addresses, links, and branding which appear to come from legitimate financial institutions but are designed to lead recipients towards fraudulent Web sites that attempt to trick them into divulging personal data such as account usernames, passwords, credit card numbers and social security numbers.
r
r
According to Netcraft’s report, CitiBank was the leading target with 475 scams directed at it in April. Ebay was the target of 221 scams and PayPal 135.
