Fraudsters are mimicking a wider range of organisations — rather than only banks — in a bid to steal personal details via scam emails‚ an anti-fraud group has warned.

Financial Fraud Action (FFA) said that 16‚462 fake bank websites were detected last year‚ compared with a peak of 256‚641 in 2012.

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FFA said fraudsters were now posing as retailers or the taxman.

 The criminals use millions of spam emails each year‚ aiming to convince people to click on a link that will send them to a fake website‚ it said.

FFA said these emails usually claimed the recipient needed to “update” or “verify” a password‚ and then urged the victims to click on a link from the email which directed them to the fake bank website.

The information entered on the bogus website or form would then be captured by the fraudsters for their own fraudulent purposes‚ it said.

FFA suggested that users be wary of emails that are unsolicited and do not address the recipient by their full names‚ but instead have a vague greeting such as “Dear customer“.

 Consumers should also be wary of emails that request personal information such as username‚ password or bank details‚ or messages that have addresses which do not match the actual website of the organisation.

Users should never visit a website from a link in an email and then enter personal details‚ it added.

Katy Worobec‚ director of Financial Fraud Action UK‚ said: “Banks have worked hard to tackle the problem of phishing emails. However‚ intelligence suggests that fraudsters are still using phishing emails to steal people’s personal and financial details by claiming to be other organisations such as government departments‚ utility companies‚ technology companies or major retailers. It remains vital to be wary of any unsolicited emails asking for your information.”

Last year 67‚830 cases of commercial crime were reported in South Africa‚ compared to 79‚009 cases in 2014.