The amount of money lost to online banking fraud in the UK increased 55 per cent to £22.5m in the first half of 2006, according to figures from banking industry body Apacs.
Most losses are attributed to phishing attacks, which have increased 1,471 per cent from 312 instances last year to 5,059 this year.
Numbers of online banking customers rose six per cent, from 14.8 million in 2004 to 15.7 million in 2005, and Apacs expects a similar increase this year, meaning online banking losses are growing about 40 per cent faster than the number of users.
Andy Muddimer, head of internet banking at Alliance and Leicester, says the success of chip-and-PIN has forced fraudsters to find new crime routes.
‘It is bound to scare the public when you see figures like that, but phishing is a relatively new kind of fraud, and that is why it is rising,’ he said.
Benjamin Ensor, senior analyst at Forrester Research, says the rise is the banks’ responsibility.
‘It is right that this should shake up the complacency of users, but it is not realistic to expect consumers to understand this fully. Ultimately the buck stops with the banks,’ he said.
Barnaby Davis, head of internet banking at Barclays, says banks must educate users about securing their data.
‘Two-thirds of our customers do not have anti-virus software so we are giving it to them for free,’ he said. ‘We want to help to educate them that this is a danger.’
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