Fueled by such scams as business email compromise, phishing frauds are staging a dramatic comeback. The total number of attacks reached 266,387 in the third quarter, according to the latest report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a security-industry organization that tracks the crime. That’s the highest level of phishing activity since the fourth quarter of 2016, the group says in its report, released this week.
The level of attacks in the July through September period was also double the number detected in the fourth quarter of 2018 and up 46% from the second quarter of this year, the report adds.
In phishing attacks, fraudsters use cleverly disguised emails to gull recipients into giving up critical data that can be used to loot bank accounts or credit cards. One variant, known as an ATM cash-out, has recently claimed headlines as criminals use phishing attacks to fool insiders into dispensing funds at multiple machines. In another variant, called a business email compromise, the attacks can lead corporate officers to send cash to a source impersonating the officers’ boss.