by Kevin W Byrom

Created on: July 08, 2011   Last Updated: July 12, 2011

Internet users could be described as millions of fish swimming around in a massive electronic ocean, awaiting a single, bitter-tasting morsel dangling from a sharp, curved hook, that could ruin for them what would otherwise be considered a rather pleasant day.

On the end of that sharp, curved hook is a bitter-tasting morsel of food commonly referred to as a phishing (fishing) email. A phishing email is defined by

merriam-webster.com as "a scam by which an email user is duped into revealing personal or confidential information which the scammer can use illicitly."

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ),and the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC), in order to gain a better understanding of how phishing tactics were being used, formed a working group known as the Canada-U.S. Cross-Border Crime Forum. In October 2004, this working group released a report that described how phishing attacks work:

"Consumers will receive "spoofed" emails (emails that appear to belong to legitimate businesses such as financial institutions or on-line auction sites). These emails will typically redirect consumers to a spoofed website, appearing to be from that same business or entity. Similarly, many consumers receive "pretext" phone calls (phone calls from persons purporting to be with legitimate institutions or companies) asking them for personal information. In fact, the criminals behind these emails, websites and phone calls have no real connection with those businesses. Their sole purpose is to obtain the consumers’ personal data to engage in various fraud schemes."

For those Internet users who may have never received a phishing email before, About.com displays an assortment of actual examples that were compiled from the original phishing emails, Internet/lottery scams, and other scams worth noting that were sent to Internet users. Irregardless of whether or not you've ever received one of these scams, you need to take some time to familiarize yourself with all of these examples, because just a little bit of education and knowledge about what could affect you is the first, best defense to protecting yourself from these electronic threats.

Some other helpful examples of phishing emails are from the IRS website and may be viewed by clicking on the following links: Tax refund request, Three fraud attempts regarding your bank account.

Since critically scrutinizing all of your emails prior to clicking on any links contained within them is the determining

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