The term phishing refers to luring techniques used by identity thieves to fish for personal information in a pond of unsuspecting Internet users. Their objective is to take this information and use it for criminal purposes such as identity theft and fraud. Phishing is a general term for the creation and use by criminals of emails and websites -- designed to look like they come from well-known, legitimate and trusted businesses, financial institutions and government agencies -- in an attempt to gather personal, financial and sensitive information. These criminals deceive Internet users into disclosing their bank and financial account information or other personal data such as usernames and passwords.

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