By Justin Fenton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PESTERED?

If you receive excessive amounts of e-mail asking for your bank account number, or you have been a victim of such e-mail fraud, the Enquirer would like to hear from you. Please call 768-8514 or e-mail jfenton@enquirer.com.

With online identity fraud becoming more common, the Cincinnati Better Business Bureau and other organizations are warning consumers of "phishing" dangers lurking on the Web.

The BBB, Call for Action, the Federal Trade Commission and Visa USA warn that e-mail scam artists masquerade as legitimate companies and solicit personal information, such as credit or debit account numbers, Social Security numbers and banking account passwords.

The practice is known as "phishing."

"These 'phishers' have no fear whatsoever," Cincinnati BBB president Jocile Ehrlich said. "Their e-mails hit our BBB office daily, and they look authentic. In terms of the numbers I've seen, the numbers are shocking."

More than 57 million people have received these kinds of e-mails, and 1.8 million fell victim to them in the past year, according to a study by market research group Gartner. Phishing scams grew 178 percent from March to April, according to the Anti-Phishing Work Group, an organization of businesses that tracks Internet fraud.

Also this week, more than a dozen major companies including IBM, Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Fidelity Investments, joined forces to create the Trusted Electronic Communications Forum, another anti-phishing organization.

E-mail jfenton@enquirer.com