Number of phishing Web sites increases rapidly

Threats from phishing Web sites saw a monthly increase of 25 percent to 35 percent and around 800 of these were stopped every day by Rising International Software Co., Ltd., the Beijing Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

"We have found 80,000 such Web sites and about 20,000 of them are active," according to Yang Wei, market manager of Rising International Software Co., Ltd.

Phishing Web sites are not viruses, but they attack the Internet users by stealing account information such as passwords and personal information. Once they have successfully "phished" a user's information, they can begin to make use of Internet banking, Paypal accounts and passwords to withdraw money illegally.

But in most cases, they usually just trick users into giving away personal information and then sell it to a third party, said Tang. This partly explains why we are harassed by telemarketing calls.

Constructing a Web site is easy. You just need to spend only 400 yuan to 500 yuan to purchase a template and then you can build a Web site.

Currently, the fake Web sites are sent through QQ, MSN and other chatting facilities, and they are also posted via blog, forum and Internet communities.

By Liang Jun, People's Daily Online