Little Red Riding Hood Fights Online Fraud

Online fraud is on the rise, and fraudsters have developed sophisticated means of accessing consumers' sensitive personal information over the Internet. Canadians are being caught by malicious phishing emails and spoof websites, and it's getting harder to differentiate between what's real and what's not.

March is Fraud Prevention Month. With a mandate to "Recognize It, Report It, Stop it," the Fraud Prevention Forum aims to educate consumers and raise awareness about the dangers of online fraud.

Technology expert, author, journalist and consultant, Marc Saltzman is eBay Canada's Online Safety expert and can provide advice and tools for identifying and avoiding online fraud and identity theft.

To help Canadian consumers identify and combat phishing attempts and spoof websites, Saltzman uses a video tutorial using the iconic fairy tale figure, Little Red Riding Hood.

- Just over 13,000 unique phishing reports were received by the Anti-Phishing Working Group in August 2005. By August 2006, that number grew to over 26,000.

- More than 10,000 phishing websites exist worldwide to date; almost double the number that existed in 2005

- Reports of phishing complaints to the APWG increased by 34% in the last 12 months

- Up to 5% of these complainants have taken the 'phishermans bait' and experienced financial loss as a result of online fraud