Qihoo 360 blocks 2b phishing websites from July to September

Updated: 2015-10-23 13:22

By Cao Yin(chinadaily.com.cn)

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Phishing, the practice of obtaining personal information, data and money from unsuspecting users, has moved quickly and in big numbers to smartphones, a leading Chinese security software provider reported.

Qihoo 360's report said it blocked nearly 2 billion phishing websites for its customers from July to September. The number from April to June was more than 850 million.

The phishing attacks often target users by pretending to be banks or government agencies, the report said.

One man surnamed Han complained he lost 200,000 yuan ($31,460) after responding to a fraudulent text message. "The message 'indicated' that it was sent by a bank, but after I was defrauded, I realized that it was a fake and delivered by a phishing website," Han said.

An increase in malicious software, which users unintentionally access while surfing the Internet, also means more smartphone users are at risk of having their personal information stolen, the report said.

In a bit of good news, Qihoo reported that the number of spam text messages has been rapidly decreasing over the past year. It attributed the drop to efforts by the telecom giants.

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