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Phishing scams climbed almost 200 percent during April, according to the newest numbers released by the Anti-Phishing Working Group this week.
In April, the group spotted nearly 1,100 unique phishing campaigns, a 178 percent increase over March, signs that the already-serious problem is accelerating. Earlier, the Anti-Phishing Working Group noted that the number of unique scams in March were up 43 percent over February's.
Citibank claimed the dubious honor as the most-used brand name by phishers; in April the financial giant was the target of 475 unique scams.
Phishers spam users with e-mails posing as legitimate messages from sources such as banks, credit card companies, and retailers. Links in the messages draw recipients to bogus Web sites -- which are crafted to closely mimic the real deal -- where they're asked to divulge personal financial information. Typically phishing messages demand users update account data, which can include credit card and bank account numbers; the attackers then purloin the information and use it to purchase goods or transfer funds out of the user's account.
eBay and its PayPal system also remained high-profile targets, said the group. During April, eBay was hit with 221 campaigns, PayPal with 135.
The group's data comes on the heels of several other similar warnings of a surge in phishing. A week ago, message filtering firm SurfControl said it had detected a 500 percent increase in phishing in the last five months.
A recent study by research firm Gartner found that approximately three percent of phishing victims actually hand over personal information, and the author analyst pointed to signs that organized crime was active in the lucrative scams.
"They've discovered identity theft, and in some cases, given up their guns for online fraud," said Avivah Litan, a research director with Gartner.
Litan estimated that the direct cost of phishing to U.S. credit card companies and banks was over $1.2 billion in 2003.
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