A phishing attack is an attempt by a con artist to trick you into supplying personal information (such as the login name and password to an email, bank or credit card account) so they can steal your identity.

One of the most common forms of phishing is done via email. The scammer will send an email that appears to be from a well-known company. This email will inform you that there is a problem with your account, and ask you to click on a link and log in. Problem is, this email is a fake. It does not come from the real company, and if you click the link you will be taken to a site that looks exactly like the real thing, drugs but isn't. The scammer has created a replica site, and if you log in, they have your user name and password. Then they can log in to your actual account, and steal any personal information you have stored (credit card numbers, etc.).

Tabnabbing is a new form of phishing. It starts when a web surfer downloads a third-party script, such as a widget. This script allows the scam artist to take control of your computer. When you're Surfing the web, chances are you have more than one window, or tab, open at the same time. If one of the tabs becomes inactive (because you're looking at another tab) the third party script will take over, and literally transform the page into something else. Once you go back to the tab that has been transformed, it will look exactly like the login page of a site you probably use.

The scammers are hoping you'll assume you were using that site and your session expired. If you log in, they will have your personal information.

The best way to avoid these types of phishing scams are to ignore emails that ask you to click a link and log in to your account, and to always enter the complete URL of any website before you log in. If you type in the URL yourself, you can make sure you are on the right page, and not a replica site.

Identity thieves have some pretty clever tricks, so always be very careful when providing any personal information online.