Phishing is a newer use of technology to exploit information out of others by pretending to be someone else that most people would trust. While it may not seem possible, hackers have figured out ways to make their email messages appear like they have come from anyone they want (somewhat scary). All it takes is a little bit of information about you and these people can start to find more and cause you some real headaches and possibly some problems with your bank/credit cards.

These types of scams have been known to appear to come from your local bank, credit card companies, department store credit cards and the government. All of these companies would never ask for any type of personal information through email because email is not secure and can possibly be read by snoopers on the internet. This is why it is stressed that any personal/private information not be sent through email to anyone on the internet. If you think one of these companies really did send you an email message, your best bet is to call them to verify.

An example of a "phishing" message is an email that appears to come from department@cia.gov telling you that your computer was being investigated for some illegal activities and asking you to fill out some questions on an attachment and send it back to them. This type of message is a scam tactic known as "phishing." If the CIA was really interested in your computer, they could easily just come and take it before you delete stuff from it.