When you worked so hard to teach your technophobic parents to use e-mail so they can keep in touch and receive pictures, you may not have thought about the spam they'll be getting eventually. Can you just picture their faces when they get their first e-mail about how to enlarge or enhance some part of their body? It's bound to happen, so you'd better warn them. No matter how many filters you set up, some spam or scams are bound to get through.

Can you even count the number of times you've received an e-mail offering you a unique opportunity to assist someone from a remote part of the world in settling an estate for a late husband or other relative whom they can't seem to claim as their own for various reasons? If you would just respond to this e-mail and agree to pose as some long-lost relative you could possibly receive a large sum of money for your help.

Of course, there are strings. They need your bank account number to transfer the money to or some earnest money from you to help pay the fees to get this money, or there is some other elaborate scheme to separate you from your money or to steal your identity.

There are also any number of other e-mail schemes designed to obtain personal information such as bank account numbers, PIN numbers, passwords, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, or any combination of these in order to access accounts or identity.

Many of theses scams appear to be very real. They use logos from legitimate banks, credit card companies, and other online financial or retail services; right down to the tiniest details, they look real and legitimate. Most, however, don't address you by name, or the name under which you might actually have an account. That is usually the first clue that they are fakes.

The next most obvious clue is that while you may have an account with the company they claim to be, you have never given them this particular e-mail address. For that reason alone, you should have only one e-mail address that you provide to businesses, financial services, and credit card accounts. This makes it easier to determine these e-mails are phishing for your information.

Phishing e-mails are usually requests for updated information on your account. They may claim your account has been suspended for some reason or will be soon if you don't login and update your information. Of course, the information they ask for includes such things as account numbers, passwords, PIN numbers, or other identifying information.

Always exercise caution when using the Internet to conduct financial transactions. Most legitimate banks and retailers have a customer service area set up to handle inquiries about phishing scams. They may have an email address to forward any suspected phishing e-mails to, or other instructions for determining how to distinguish legitimate e-mails and websites. When in doubt, contact the corporation by phone or letter.

While many legitimate financial and retail operations utilize the Internet safely and securely every day, there are breeches of security from time to time. There are precautions to take, and you must remind your parents to be wary and scrutinize.