The damage ranges from loss of access to email and other on¬line accounts to loss of money, investments, etc. Phishing is becorning more popular, because of the number of unsuspecting people who are easily tricked into divulging information to phishers.

The collected informa¬tion includes credit card num¬bers, social security numbers, and mothers' maiden names. It is also possible that identity thieves can add more information to what they have gained through phishing simply by ac¬cessing public records.

Once this information is acquired, the phishers may use a person's de¬tails to create fake accounts in a victim's name, ruin a victim's credit, or even prevent victims from accessing their own ac¬counts. As you can surmise the result can be a destroyed life. That is why it is extremely im¬portant everyone learns to rec¬ognize phishing and avoid being caught.