Can you "phish" out fraudulent emails?

Over the last 12 months, the phishing phenomenon has taken America by storm. A report published in May 2004 concluded that a staggering 57 million consumers in the US had received a phishing email the previous year.

More astoundingly, phishing accounted for $2.4bn in fraud - an average of $1,200 per victim according to results published by research company Gartner - which made it the fastest growing form of consumer theft in the US.

So you think you can smell a "phish" a mile off? Well maybe you should think again. One Senator has set out to prove how difficult it is to tell real from fake. Forget reeling off endless statistics in an awareness campaign; Senator Dean Florez D-Shafter is urging America to take part in an online test.

Anti-spam company MailFrontier has created an online survey inviting individuals to differentiate legitimate emails from a scam. According to the results, 28 per cent of US adults today can't spot a phishing email.

Senator Dean Florez is not the only one at Capitol Hill trying to raise awareness of phishing. The Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and International Trade will hold a hearing on Wednesday about phishing and other internet scams.