Phishing - Prevention and Cure

Phishing, it sounds like a rude word but it isn’t, but then again say it to your bank manager or to the person who has been stung for a tidy sum of their cash and I can assure you that a few choice words will probably stream from their mouths.

This is because phishing is costing our banks £12 million in the last year in lost revenue and has seen the banks look for and find a new system in it’s fight to try and cut the cost of this type of fraud as much as possible.

Before we go any further, if you don’t know what Phishing is, or have a rough idea though you are not certain, let me explain. Phishing is what a crook will do to try and get his/her hands on your personal details so that they can put it to fraudulent use.

How Does This Happen?

To do that the criminals will send e-mail to your computer, that will resemble one that looks as if it has come from an official source, such as one from your bank for example, asking for your details and it will be worded in such away as to make it look genuine, in turn the crook will then sit back and hope that you reply and reveal the details that they have asked for and once you have done so, they will turn that information into buying goods in your name and also will counterfeit your credit or bank cards.

What Can We Do About It

This has led to the banks introducing a delay system, which will investigate any transaction that is seen as out of place and will in turn contact the customer to validate the transaction, before they give the all clear for payment.

This new system will only be applied to any new accounts that are set up between the transfer of one person to the others and wont effect any existing two accounts that are already set up, such as household bills and credit card payments.