Yep, I got one too: An officious e-mail that starts off by saying, "We regret to inform you that your online profile was not successfully updated and your Skype account has been temporarily suspended...," blah, blah, blah. Of course, the e-mail is a phish. It didn't originate from Skype.

If you haven't been keeping up with the terminology recently, phishing attacks are attempts to get consumers to reveal account details or personal information about themselves. The attacks use all sorts of methods, including 'spoofed' e-mails and fake websites that often look identical to the real ones. Some attacks go further, by enticing the unwitting user into installing malware such as keystroke loggers onto their computers.

According to Gartner, direct phishing-related loss to US banks and credit card issuers in 2003 was US$ 1.3 billion. Indirect losses are much higher [...] Phishing also causes substantial hardship for victimized consumers.