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March 16, 2006<\/p>\n
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Contact: 202-835-3323,\u00a0media@nclnet.org<\/a><\/p>\n Washington, DC\u2014Consumer confidence in conducting business and protecting personal data online is threatened every day by phishing scams. In an initiative led by the National Consumers League (NCL), law enforcement, financial services and technical industries have joined forces to combat this threat.\u00a0 The group today issued a \u201ccall to action\u201d with the\u00a0release of a paper<\/a>\u00a0outlining key recommendations that form a comprehensive plan for combating phishing more effectively.<\/p>\n Phishing is a large and growing problem, in which identity thieves pose as legitimate companies, government agencies, or other trusted entities in order to trick consumers into providing their bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, and other personal information. In 2005, phishing scams ranked 6th in Internet complaints to NCL\u2019s Internet Fraud Watch program and the scams continue to dupe consumers.\u00a0 A May 2005 consumer survey by First Data found that 43 percent of respondents had received a phishing contact, and of those, 5 percent (approximately 4.5 million people) provided the requested personal information. Nearly half of the phishing victims, 45 percent, reported that their information was used to make an unauthorized transaction, open an account, or commit another type of identity theft.<\/p>\n NCL\u2019s new report, the result of a comprehensive three-day brainstorming retreat organized by the Washington-based consumer advocacy organization last September, makes multiple recommendations on how to combat it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no silver bullet to solve the phishing problem, but there are known responses that need more support and promising new approaches that could help deter it,\u201d said Susan Grant, director of NCL\u2019s National Fraud Information Center. The key recommendations in the report are:<\/p>\n Sponsorship for the initiative was provided by the American Express Company, First Data Corporation, and Microsoft Corporation.\u00a0 The recommendations were developed by retreat participants representing financial services firms, Internet service providers, online retailers, computer security firms, software companies, consumer protection agencies, law enforcement agencies, consumer and ID theft victims organizations, academia, and coalitions such as the Anti-Phishing Working Group and the National Cyber Security Alliance.\u00a0 Peter Swire, C. William O\u2019Neill Professor of Law at the Moritz College of Law of the Ohio State University, wrote the report for NCL.<\/p>\n In the next phase of this project, NCL is forming working groups and inviting organizations and experts who are concerned about phishing to examine how the anti-phishing strategies in the report can be adopted on a widespread basis. \u201cWe all need to work together in a systematic approach if we want to have a significant impact on the tidal wave of phishing that is hitting consumers and hurting legitimate organizations,\u201d said Grant.<\/p>\n To obtain a copy of \u201cA Call for Action,\u201d\u00a0<\/a>click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n\n
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