Natwest top target for phishers

Natwest is the bank that most phishing gangs impersonate when trying to get UK surfers to part with their banking details, according to research.

ClearMyMail, a company that specialises in anti-spam solutions, said that 41 per cent of phishing emails it intercepted in December 2007 were disguised as messages from Natwest.

Citibank, HSBC and Abbey also featured highly on the list, as well as PayPal, eBay's payments arm. According to the company, the emails look very convincing.

Dan Field, managing director of ClearMyMail said: "The phishing emails used are very well constructed and often look exactly like a legitimate message from the bank."

Field also warned that the methods the phishing gangs used had become more sophisticated.

"People have to remain vigilant as it has almost got to the stage where cybercrooks are building up a portfolio of email databases containing contact information that is profiled to fit a certain bank or building society's typical customer in order to improve the success rate of their fraudulent attacks," he said.

www.clearmymail.com/phishing

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