Phish, or phishing, is a rapidly growing form of fraud that seeks to fool web users into divulging private information by mimicking a legitimate website.

In a typical scenario, unsuspecting users get an urgent sounding (and authentic looking) email telling them there is a problem with their account that they must immediately fix to avoid account termination. The email will include a URL to a website that looks exactly like the real thing. It is simple to copy a legitimate email and a legitimate website but then change the so-called backend, which receives the collected data.

The email tells the user to log on to the site and confirm some account information. A hacker receives data a user provides, such as a logon name, password, credit card number, or social security number.

Phish fraud is fast, cheap, and easy to perpetuate. It is also potentially quite lucrative for those criminals who practice it. Phish is hard for even computer-savvy users to detect. And it is hard for law enforcement to track down. Worse, it is almost impossible to prosecute.

Please report to Trend Micro any website you suspect to be a phishing site. See Sending suspicious content to Trend Micro for more information.