The amount stolen in these banking scams has now reached £4.5m and is rising by a projected 50% each month.
Steven Philippsohn, senior partner with Philippsohn Crawfords Berwald, commented: "One million customers were affected by yesterday's attack on NatWest, and the increasing sophistication of these scams means more people will fall victim to attack. Banks have tended to play down the significance of phishing in the past as they are insured against any losses suffered by customers, but this does not get around the problem that much of this money is being snatched by organised crime gangs and even terrorist groups. Prevention and recovery of assets must be the priority for companies and organisations whose customers fall victim to these scams."
"Phishing" is the term used for bogus e-mails sent to customers of high street banks and popular online websites (such as Ebay). These e-mails suggest there is a problem with the customer's account and that they must follow a link to a webpage and enter personal information and passwords. However this weblink is often a cleverly disguised mock-up of a legitimate website. Once passwords, credit card numbers or bank account details have been captured they can be used to transfer money overseas, often to accounts in Nigeria, Eastern Europe or the Middle East.
Steven Philippsohn adds: "More and more of these cases are being reported, and yet it seems that many online customers are still unaware of the dangers. More has to be done to educate consumers about the potential dangers of giving out financial or personal information on the web. The legislation is in place to tackle these crimes, but in order to send a message to potential fraudsters it has to be vigorously enforced."
