The scam involves a fraudulent e-mail that tells an unwitting recipient that his bank has announced bankruptcy. Subsequently, it asks him to visit a web-link pointing to a page that teaches the ways through which he could protect his money.

But the page - instead of providing information about bankruptcy proceedings - tells the user that he upgrades his "Adobe Macromedia Flash Player."

As soon as the user completes download of Flash Player, the phisher manages to gain full access to the user's entire personal information on his computer. He then uses that information for acquiring credit cards, setting up checking accounts and conducting illegal purchases in the name and credit account of the victim.

Thus, the scam prompted the Office of Sheriff to alert everyone. In case, any user gets doubtful or strange e-mails requesting for personal details, he should become careful, said the Sheriff.

The law enforcement authorities of Washoe County have cautioned people against downloading any unknown software on their PCs. They've also asked people to first verify the authenticity of such e-mails before giving out personal information.

The Sheriff Office further said that while the Internet was meant for safe utilization, it could help in exploiting surfers who didn't adopt precautions, as reported by Mynews4 on December 31, 2009.

Commenting on the targeted attacks, Internet security specialists state that they're more crafty, sophisticated and prolific compared to attacks in any previous period. They further say that although the phishing scams has been around for many years, these have actually gained popularity only in recent years. The reason cited is that users don't know the ways to evade the traps.

Mike Dausin, a researcher at DVLabs of Tipping Point, commented on netizens' dilemma saying that while security awareness prevailed, criminals exploited people's limited knowledge of the same, as reported by SFGate during the end-week of December 2009.