By CNET News.com Staff CNET News.com
September 29, 2004, 12:22 PM PT
The online cons known as "phishing" have cost U.S. consumers $500 million, according to a study released Wednesday.
In addition, the study found that three-quarters of wired Americans have noticed an increase in phishing incidents during the past few months, with one-third saying they've receiving e-mails sent under fraudulent pretenses at least once a week.
The study, sponsored by Truste, a nonprofit privacy group, and NACHA, an electronic payments association, surveyed 1,335 Internet users across the United States.
Phishing scams use e-mails that appears to come from trusted companies to lure people to bogus Web sites, where they're asked to divulge sensitive personal information, such as
credit card data. Attacks frequently target bank customers, but recent scams have sought out users of Gmail and Amazon.com.
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