Fergie's Tech Blog

Gartner: Victims of Online Phishing Up Nearly 40% in 2007

Jack Rogers writes on SC Magazine US:

An annual study by Gartner will report that the number of consumers who were taken in by bogus online offerings increased by nearly 40 percent in 2007 over the previous year.

Gartner vice president and research director Avivah Litan told SCmagazineUS.com that the report will reveal that 3.2 percent of adults in the United States who said they received phishing emails this year lost money as a result of these scams, compared with 2.3 percent of the total in 2006.

Industry analysts estimate that the overall cost to consumers of online fraud is approaching $3 billion for 2007, compared with $2 billion in losses reported last year, while more than three million consumers have been victimized. This upward trend is expected to continue as phishing expeditions get more sophisticated and security upgrades play catch-up.

posted by Fergie @ 12/07/2007 05:03:00 PM