Phishers Prefer Seasonal Breaks Just Like Rest of Us

Envisional, the fraud-detection company, has found that there had been a significant drop in phishing attacks during July and August 2008. However, the volume increased again in September 2008, leading to a speculation by security investigators that criminals had taken a break during the holiday period in summer.

A spokesman at Envisional predicted that there would be a drop in the phishing levels in December 2008, only to rise again in the New Year (2009), as reported by ZDNet on October 27, 2008.

The spokesman further stated that the seasonal timing of phishing attacks bore a family enthusiasm over the past two years. It seems that phishers cut off their activities when the summer vacations are on. Christmas is obviously a great opportunity for these fraudsters when consumers are at the peak of their activity. But the security company observes that phishers choose to go for a break during Christmas.

Moreover, security specialists said that the phishing perpetrators can be regarded as a normal human beings who want to finish off his day-to-day mundane work and become free. Their job is to defraud people and steal their online banking details. Also, phishing has become so lucrative that the people engaged in it are indifferent about when it is the right time to work.

Furthermore, the specialists stated that while phishing attacks are growing in volume on the UK banks as mergers upset banking customers. It appears people engaged in frauds need a vacation at every interval just like any regular worker.

Additionally, the spokesman said that the spammers and phishers are self-indulgent. They are not desperate to make money. Further, they are so confident about their work that they think of taking holidays in between their hideous businesses.

Meanwhile, Envisional found that almost half a million unique phishing e-mail frauds were sent to bank consumers over the last six months (April-September 2008), while the number of attacks reached the highest in June 2008 with 170,000 phishing e-mails sent, accounting for a 117% increase from June 2007.

Related article: Phishers Expand Their Sphere of Attacks

» SPAMfighter News - 11/11/2008