JUMP IN ONLINE BANKING FRAUD A CYBERCRIME PRIORITY

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 7th Oct 2009

Commenting on the release of figures from Financial Fraud Action UK, showing that online banking fraud has jumped by 55% over the last six months, Jenny Willott, Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet Office Spokesperson, said:

"Online banking fraud is becoming a honey pot for organised criminal gangs.

"Criminals seem to be deploying increasingly sophisticated techniques to gain the login and credit card details of online banking customers, especially through the use of hoax phishing sites.

"UK businesses have been warning about the rise of this sort of cybercrime for some time. With ever increasing numbers of online banking customers and sales over the internet, it is only likely to increase in the future.

"The new Office of Cyber Security needs to make online banking fraud an absolute priority."