Your NetID is on restriction! Your e-mail account has been blocked! We have detected fraudulent access to your bank account! Your credit card has been misused! Quick! Click here!!!

But first, check the Phishbowl at http://www.cit.cornell.edu/security/safety/phishbowl.cfm. Chances are, the message you received was a "phish" -- an attempt to con you into revealing personal information. The Phishbowl, a sort of Snopes.com for the campus, displays examples of phishes sent to Cornell users.

Most phishes will tell you that some account has been blocked and you must take action to reinstate it. A few are more original, inviting you to participate in a survey or reporting that your credit card or PayPal account has been charged for something you never bought. Many phishes originate overseas, and the grammar and syntax of the message is sometimes laughable; but don't let a literate, sensible message ensnare you.

The link in a phishing message will take you to a website designed to look like that of a bank or other service provider and will ask you to log in with your name, social security number, password and other information scammers can use for identity theft. Some recent phishes have displayed a perfect replica of Cornell's standard NetID login. That didn't cost the victims money, but spammers used the NetID-password information they harvested to send bulk e-mail from Cornell servers. A few phishes direct the victim to a phone number instead of a website.

Report phishes you receive to security-services@cornell.edu. Cornell Information Technologies will filter campus e-mail to prevent the phish from reaching others and block anyone from logging into the fake website.

"Then we'll add it to the Phishbowl for future reference. If you're seeing something that looks phishy, that's a good place to check," said Wyman Miles, manager of security engineering. "Of course, if a suspicious piece of e-mail isn't in the Phishbowl, that doesn't necessarily mean it's legit."

Think before you click.