For years criminals have been able to set up fake websites in the hopes to lure customers of those sites to enter their usernames and passwords, or other private information. These “phisher” sites would then take that information and use it to empty Paypal accounts, or Debit card accounts, or access Ebay accounts to sell non-existent high price products. Finally Democrat Patrick Leahy, has introduced a new federal anti-phishing bill that would impose jail terms up to five years and fines up to $250,000 for criminals creating fake web site designed to con consumers in to giving them their personal information.
“Some phishers can be prosecuted under wire fraud or identity theft statutes, but often these prosecutions take place only after someone has been defrauded – that leaves plenty of time to cover their tracks. Traditional wire fraud and identity theft statutes are not sufficient to respond to phishing.” said Leahy in a statement regarding the Anti-Phishing Act of 2005. Link to the full story.