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The onslaught of on-line banking has proved more than useful for the many UK costomers taking advantage of it - no longer are you a slave to the branches that only open whilst you are at work!

Paying bills, checking balances, transferring money, clearing your credit card and managing direct debits are some of the more simple tasks you can now carry out in the comfort of your own home, allowing you to spend your lunch hour actually having lunch rather than increasing your blood pressure standing in a queue at your 'convenient' high street branch.

Unfortunately for every advance in technology there are a whole bunch of crooks looking to take advantage of it: 411 scams, key logging and phishing are some of the more well known methods by which lowlife try to illegally extract money from Joe Public.

This rise in e-fraud has not gone unnoticed by the public, and a good thing to. An increase in public awareness of such crimes can only assist in the avoidance of becoming a victim, or can it? A survey by Forrester of 11,300 UK Internet users has found that many have taken the ultimate step to avoid becoming a victim of e-fraud by giving up online banking altogether. Many remaining e-bank customers are aware of possible security threats, but see it as a problem that their bank should protect them against rather than taking on the responsibility themselves. This is a risky approach and is akin to leaving your car keys in the ignition and expecting your insurance company to pay out when a hoody trades in his banger for your new Merc.

Banks need to sit up and take notice, as according to Forrester, approximately 600,000 of the 15m e-bank customers have given up online banking through security fears. The banks have spent undoubtedly large sums of money to setup online banking portals for their customers so it is important that these are successful and don't prove to be a waste of money. The banks will have you believe that their online banking has been created for your convenience, and whilst partly true, the main driver has got to be to reduce costs through automation and lower staffing levels. A good return on investment will only be seen if consumer confidence can be regained.

Too little too late?
Forrester claims that a fifth of those surveyed who plan to stop using e-banking due to a perceived increase in security risks plan to never bank online again. Without continual efforts to increase consumer confidence this situation stands to worsen. This can only frustrate the banks as online banking is generally very secure, it is only the complacency and paranoia of customers which is fuelling the fear of fraud.

Protect yourself
Online banking is here to stay, and with the level of convenience it offers it is a pity there is a lack of knowledge about how secure it is. It's not too difficult to protect yourself against potential thieves, such as picking a secure password, keeping your details private, use of good anti-virus software, and remembering that your bank will not email you about account specific details.

If you would like to learn more about safe online banking, or you are unsure if someone is trying to defraud you, speak to your bank, ISP, or visit www.banksafeonline.org.uk to learn more about how to protect yourself.