These characters are all really slick. Their one page web site is designed to draw you in, convince you, and take your hard earned money. Some of them are written really well and product is very tempting to buy. But does a little doubt linger somewhere at back of your mind? Is there something holding you back but you just can't quite put your finger on it? There might be a valid reason for that.

Let's travel through history a bit and see if we can figure out why you get those tiny doubts....

Orson Wells. Heard of him? War of Worlds. Heard of that? I think almost anyone in U.S. knows both names, but for amusement I'll summarize story. The War of Worlds was a fiction radio story. I think it was broadcast in 1940's or 1950's era but I don't remember exact date. This story happened to be science fiction, and happened to involve aliens landing on Earth and starting a war. Now story was put on in full production mode -- just like fiction movies you see on TV today with professional actors. The only problem is, many people tuned into radio show while it was in progress, and they had no idea it was a fictional story! Panic and chaos ensued.

Jump to 1960's era. Did you know there was a book that was put on to best seller lists, even though book didn't actually exist? Yep. A radio DJ cooked up a plot to "fool" some people. He arranged to have listeners go to bookstores and request a specific book. The book didn't actually exist, and this was part of prank. To his and his listener's surprise: Their requests for this book stirred up interest across world. People were talking about book everywhere -- reviews were even written about it! And soon enough it showed up on a bestseller list. But book did not even exist. The non-existent book was called "I' Libertine", and due to furor created from prank, radio DJ went on to write a real book by that name later in life.

So what’s deal here? Well, for starters, to most Internet users emails and web sites are indistinguishable from legitimate business communications. Secondly, trusted sources reveal that by hijacking brands of well-known banks, online retailers and credit card companies, phishers are able to induce up to 5% of recipients to respond to them. How far can these unscrupulous companies and individuals get? Farther than most of us would think. Last Nov. 8, a man in Sydney, Australia, was imprisoned for more than five years for duping people into sending him millions of dollars in a global Internet ruse known as Nigerian scam. He presented himself as someone who needed access to a Western bank account in order to transfer a large sum of money out of a politically troubled country. Criminals taking part in Nigerian scam would then promise innocent email recipients a share of money, but ask for a smaller upfront cost - in concept of an ‘administration fee’ - before larger sum can be transferred. This way they make millions! Although this man pleaded guilty at Sydney Court, chances are it will take much more than one guilty man imprisoned to get this problem under control.

According to APWG’s Phishing Attack Trends Report (July 2004), most targeted industry sector for phishing attacks continues to be Financial Services, both from perspective of total attacks and number of companies targeted. Retail is second, whereas ISPs are third. Citibank seems to be company whose brand was hijacked most often by phishers. Some other recent phishing targets include AOL, Suntrust, Earthlink, Wells Fargo, MBNA, Charlotte's Bank of America, Paypal, Fleet, Best Buy and eBay.