UK consumers hit by a 21 percent rise in phishing scams

According to a study conducted by GetSafeOnline, phishing attacks cost British consumers a total of GBP 174.4 million over the course of the year.

Overall, the number of reported phishing scams reported between November 2014 and October 2015, reaching a total of 95,556 cases, according to figures from Action Fraud.

And research from Get Safe Online found that that over a quarter (26%) of victims of online crime have been scammed by these types of social engineering emails or phone calls.

E-mail phishing proved the most popular form of scam, making up over three quarters (77%) of all reported incidents, followed by phone calls, which accounted for one in ten (12%) incidents. Over a quarter (29%) of all reported phishing emails were also found to contain a potentially malicious link which when clicked, could deliver malware to a victim’s computer or request their personal details.

This increase has also led to a growth in awareness of phishing scams, as over a fifth of people (22%) said they are most concerned about this sort of online crime.