The down economy is creating opportunities for cyber-crooks. Security experts and law-enforcement officials who track Internet crime say scams have increased in the past 6 months, as crooks take advantage of economic fear and anxiety to focus on both consumers and businesses. Thieves are emailing phony messages and putting up fake websites appearing to be banks, mortgage-service providers or even government institutions such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Mobile phones and Internet-based phone services have also been used to locate unsuspecting victims. The whole purpose is to obtain money or steal personal information for.

Cyber-attacks on many banks have doubled in the past 6 months throughout the world, including the U.K., Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Though most are stopped by computer-security protection,, such as spam filters and fraud-detection systems, there are still millions of unsuspecting victims.