Now the latest cyberswindle, pharming, threatens to reel in entire schools of victims.

Pharmers simply redirect as many users as possible from the legitimate commercial websites they'd intended to visit and lead them to malicious ones. The bogus sites, to which victims are redirected without their knowledge or consent, will likely look the same as a genuine site. But when users enter their login name and password, the information is captured by criminals.

Experts say pharming could be combated if browsers would authenticate websites' identities. Web browser toolbars like one offered by Netcraft, www.netcraft.com , can alert users by displaying the true physical location of a website's host. U.S. customers, for example, would likely pause before typing in their passwords when a website that looks like their local bank's site is reported to be hosted in Russia.