A recent e-mail that appears to have been sent out by Bangor Savings Bank to its customers may look authentic, but it is the latest of continual attempts by scammers to con information out of unsuspecting e-mail users, according to banking officials.

The practice, known as “phishing,” enables criminals to gather personal information from their victims and then to use it to gain access to their online financial accounts.

The bogus e-mails, circulated over the past few weeks, warn recipients that there have been unauthorized attempts over the Internet to get into their bank accounts. It asks customers to click on a link in the e-mail and then to verify their account information on a connecting Web page. The Web page that opens up looks legitimate, complete with the bank’s logo and accurate phone number.

But it is a ruse.

“A financial institution will never, ever – no exceptions – send you an e-mail asking you to reply with confidential information,” Yellow Light Breen, Bangor Savings Bank senior vice president and clerk, said Friday. “Our customers are not getting these e-mails from Bangor Savings Bank.”

Breen said phishing scammers obtain a list of e-mail addresses, pick a bank whose customers they want to target, and then set up a dummy Web site. They then send out the e-mails, hoping some will find their way to bank customers who believe them to be genuine, he said.

“Hit the delete button,” Breen said. “If they get five or 10 names, that’s all it takes.”

Breen said the scams most often originate from overseas and are beyond the reach of investigations by local or state police. Federal law enforcement officials investigate complaints when they can, he said, but phishing cases generally are viewed as a low priority for investigators because the amount of money involved tends to be less than that at stake in other crimes.

Phishing scams also are notoriously difficult to track to the perpetrators, he said.

“Catching the criminals is very challenging and very rare,” Breen said.

Jere Armstrong, chairman of the Maine Bankers’ Association security committee, said Thursday that there always are phishing scams circulating on the Internet. It is not just Bangor Savings Bank, he said, but other banks and other types of businesses whose identities are pirated by scammers who want to make their schemes look valid.

Some of the bogus e-mails appear to be from well-known Internet companies and others tell recipients they need to submit personal information in order to collect lottery winnings.

The number of phishing scams circulating online seems to have declined over the past few years, Armstrong said, but it is doubtful they will ever go away. As long as the Internet exists, and as long as there is legitimate online access to the customer accounts of any business, he said, phishing will continue.

“It’s going to happen,” Armstrong said.

On its official Web site, www.bangor.com, Bangor Savings Bank warns it customers about bogus e-mails. Several examples of phishing attempts that claim to be from the bank are listed on the site.

Breen said people who receive the bogus bank e-mails should forward them to the bank at phish@bangor.com. Anyone who has other questions or who is concerned their confidential information may have been compromised can call the bank at (877) 226-4671.

Bangor Savings Bank is a member of the Maine Anti-Phishing Coalition, which was formed by 21 Maine banks this past March as a way to combat phishing scams, he said. The goal of the coalition, the first of its kind in the country, is to help educate the public and bank employees about how to recognize and avoid phishing scams.

On the coalition’s Web site, www.nophishing.org, it lists other recent phishing scams that have been detected. The online auction site eBay, and Chase, NatWest and Lloyds TSB banks are among other institutions whose customers have been targeted by the illicit schemes.