Online bank thefts more than doubled in 2009

Cyber criminals that prey on consumers who bank online are stepping up their game.

In 2009, they managed to separate unsuspecting Americans from nearly $560 million of their hard-earned cash. That's more than double the amount online hackers stole the previous year, when consumers lost $265 million to online banking scams. The statistics, released by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), underscore the threat fraudsters continue to pose. Despite years of sustained efforts by banks and regulators to limit the damage wrought by their unconscionable work, online bank robbers are devising increasingly sophisticated schemes.