Due to concerns about online fraud, 33 percent of online shoppers are buying less and 75 percent are more cautious about where they shop online, writes Internet Retailer, citing a new study by Gartner. Concerns about online fraud are also lowering consumer confidence in email as a way of communicating with businesses, with some 80 percent saying so. More than 85 percent in that group say they delete suspect email before opening it.

Gartner attributes much of the fraud concerns to the rise of phishing attacks that attempt to dupe consumers into providing personal information online. In the 12 months ended in May 2005, about 73 million consumers received email phishing attacks, up 28 percent from 57 million during the 12-month period ended in April 2004, according to Gartner.

Gartner also noted that 2.4 million consumers have reported losing money directly due to phishing; of those, half lost a combined $929 million in the 12 months preceding the survey. However, nearly twice as many consumers said they worry about theft of financial data than they do about phishing.