Italy has become the latest country to clamp down on phishing, with authorities there <A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/16/Italy-arrests-26-for-phishing_1.html">arresting 26 people for an alleged scam</A> to swindle bank customers.

According to a statement by one of those arrested, the scam involved sending fraudulent emails that appeared to come from Poste Italiane, the country's postal operator, which also offers bank accounts, insurance and loans, according to a news release (in Italian) from the Guardia di Finanza, which handles financial crimes.

The emails urged victims to hand over sensitive financial information, which was then used to draw money from their accounts, the finance authority said. Eighteen of those arrested are Italian citizens, with the remainder from Eastern European countries.