Spear Phishing.(internet fraud)

Byline: Benjamin Sutherland

Phishing is a game of numbers. Fraudsters pump out thousands of e-mails that persuade some recipients to click a link to, say, a phoney financial institution's Web site, where they divulge bank and credit-card details. Because Internet users are wising up, phishers have devised a new approach: "spear phishing," with barbs customized for each victim.

Spear phishers gather information, usually on the Internet, about an individual, and then craft a personalized e-mail more likely to dupe the mark. According to the FBI, the personalization method has proved so profitable that a significant number of spear phishers, principally located outside the United States, began applying it to death-threat extortion e-mails for the first time last December. FBI spokeswoman Cathy Milhoan says the problem is "huge."

Here's how it works: A spear phisher collects information on an (often wealthy) individual, then writes a chilling e-mail. The sender, posing as a hit man, offers to spare the recipient in exchange for a large sum of money. If the ploy doesn't work, the target receives a second e-mail, purportedly from the police, explaining that his or her name and address were found on a recently arrested murder suspect. "The victim gets scared, gets ...