Addressing the spectre of phishing: are adequate measures in place to protect victims of phishing?

The Internet has introduced cheap, interactive and instant global communications. However, it has also resulted in new forms of criminal behaviour. The technique whereby scammers trick bank customers into entering their usernames and passwords is called 'phishing'. Therefore, phishing scams are used to coerce unsuspecting users to disclose personal and banking information about them. Scammers obtain private information about consumers by posing as legitimate businesses and they play on the combination of trust and fear of fraud. Phishing attacks exploit vulnerabilities in computer networks, cause financial loss to victims and banking institutions and undermine consumer confidence in e-commercial transactions.