Phishing attacks on UK banking customers have rocketed by 70 per cent in just over a year, with the first three months of 2008 witnessing the steepest rise in activity.

The Quarterly Fraud Report, which was carried out by online brand monitoring specialist NetNames, found that during February 2008 over 60,000 phishing emails were sent to banking customers.

Banks have become the focus of the majority of phishing attacks and account for 77 per cent of all phishing emails in December, 79 per cent in January and 88 per cent in February.

NetNames chief operating officer Jonathan Robinson says: “Just as phishing seemed to have slipped off the consumer radar, online fraudsters have leapt on the chance to capitalise on this false sense of security and have increased their phishing activity drastically in the past few months.

“Consumers must be aware of this renewed and increasing threat and make sure they never give out personal details over email, and it is also crucial for the reputation of financial services organisations that they make their customers aware of and help protect them from threats.”