Banks raise bogey of phishing fraud !

In the backdrop of rise in number of cases of phishing in the city, a number of private sector banks in Mumbai have issued alerts through cyber mail, to protect oneself against cyber crimes. Cyber criminals primarily target private sector banks since the percentage of account holders are high- end customers of these banks who carry out huge amounts of financial transactions and money transfers through e- banking channels, Last week, HDFC Bank issued an alert to its customers to guard themselves against cyber criminal gangs attempting to gain access to one's confidential bank details using an online tax refund phishing scam mail to gullible bank customers who easily fall victims to cyber crimes.

There have been reported cases in the city's cyber crime cell of the Mumbai police, where cyber criminals are involved in phishing. These gangs have been sending out fraudulent mails to bank account holders, especially those holding accounts in private sector banks, to steal the account holders web identity and capture his or her personal data like credit or debit card numbers, bank account information and other sensitive financial information.

" The e- mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user' information. By spamming large groups of people, the cyber criminal counts on the e- mail being read by a percentage of people who actually have listed credit card numbers.

Phishing, also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, where the idea is to throw the bait with the hope that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting," claimed a cyber crime official.

Last week, Mumbai's Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Dayal had specifically stressed on the threat posed by whitecollar criminals and cyber crime syndicates involved in duping and cheating and identity theft and hacking, respectively.

In Mumbai, a total amount of Rs 361 crore was reported to have been looted by economic offenders, including white collar and cyber criminals, in 2010 and Rs 180.9 crore in 2009. According to Mumbai police, reported cases of cyber crime have increased by 12- fold since 2006. While six cyber crime cases were reported in 2006, the numbers soared to 76 in 2010.