We have all heard of great “fish stories,” but this tale is no laughing matter and can cause stress and financial havoc for an unsuspecting consumer.

“Phishing” is a deceptive, illegal practice employed by scammers. Take an innocent enough e-mail that looks like it is sent from a legitimate site, mix in a request for account information, find a trusting consumer who provides the information, and you have a successful phishing expedition – for the crook that is.

How did this all happen? Stealing your personal information is difficult, so criminals will try and trick you into giving them information using a spoofed e-mail. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, phishers send an e-mail or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you may deal with – for example, an Internet service provider, bank, online payment service or even a government agency.

The message may ask you to “update,” “validate” or “confirm” your account information. Some phishing e-mails threaten a dire consequence if you don’t respond. The messages direct you to a Web site that looks just like a legitimate organization’s site. But it isn’t. It’s a bogus site whose sole purpose is to trick you into divulging your personal information so the operators can steal your identity and run up bills or clean out your account.

The message we want to get out to people is this: No financial institution will send you an e-mail requesting your personal or account information, such as a Social Security number, account number or personal identification number.

As the level of doing business electronically increases, so does the level of criminal activity on the Internet. Scammers continue to find ways for you to part with your hard-earned money. Protect yourself by constantly being aware of what is being asked of you over the Internet. Knowledge of scammers’ methods will protect you from taking the “bait.”

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll free, (877) 382-4357 or (866) 653-4261 (TTY).

The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad.