No 'Phishing': Banks Try to Sink Scammers

[LakeGator]

This article discusses how banks will start using new top-level domain names to reduce phishing attacks. It is an interesting idea but one wonders whether the clicking public will really notice. It seems that a large portion of the clicking public has no clue or concern about URLs or other semi-technical details.

If banks have their way, Internet scammers soon may have a tougher time deceiving people with bogus bank websites.

Financial-services companies are snatching up new, exclusive Internet addresses in an effort to crack down on cybercrime, which one analyst said cost the industry an estimated $2.5 billion last year.
The firms have paid at least $3.3 million, or $185,000 per address, to the nonprofit organization that oversees the Internet to secure new exclusive domain extensions, the letters that appear at the end of a website address, such as dot-com or dot-gov.

The new addresses include extensions like dot-citi, dot-bofa and dot-barclays. The banks hope these extensions will help their online customers know they are actually dealing with the bank and not a scam website trying to pilfer personal information.