Apacs fires phishing warning

Apacs, the UK payments association, has fired a warning over the issue of phishing attacks that are seeing some people inadvertently increase their debt management headaches.

During the first three months of this year, there were around 10,000 instances of phishing in the UK and Apacs is keen to see people protect themselves more effectively against the cyber-threat.

Phishing involves fraudsters using bogus emails and web pages to dupe internet bankers into handing over their financial details and losses resulting from the problem totalled some £22.6 million last year.

The scale of the losses incurred as a result of phishing has been reduced in recent months but the threat to consumer information remains a serious one, according to Apacs.

Sandra Quinn, director of communications at the association, said: “Remember that your bank will never send you emails asking you to disclose Pin numbers, login details or complete passwords – if you receive an email of this nature you should delete it.”

Last week, the Cheshire Building Society urged British consumers to make sure they know where to get debt help as and when they need it.