This Tuesday, AOL filed three civil lawsuits against several major phishing groups as part of the ISP's wider fight against identity theft scams and other Internet security threats.

The suits also cite applicable Federal laws, including the Lanham (Trademark) Act, and the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act.

The ISP is asking for damages of $18m against unnamed groups who targeted AOL and CompuServe members with fraudulent emails attempting to trick them into handing over confidential personal information (such as AOL screen names, passwords, and credit card numbers). According to the lawsuits, these phishing fraudsters used "vast resources and creativity" to design hundreds of fake websites. AOL has kept tens of thousands of examples of phishing fraud emails transmitted by these gangs.

"AOL is using every legal and technical means at its disposal to drive phishers from the AOL service to protect our members and to make the internet a safer place for all consumers."

According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group almost 50,000 phishing websites were created last year, with more than 7,000 appearing in December alone. AOL said it blocks an average 1.5bn spam emails a day, approximately 80 per cent of the email traffic sent to users' in-boxes and also blocks delivery of emails with web links to known phishing sites. Access to known phishing sites is also blocked for users of AOL Explorer browsers. The ISP partners with anti-phishing firms MarkMonitor, Cyveillance and Cyota in delivering providing protection against phishing attacks.