About one in four Internet users are hit with e-mail scams every month that try to lure sensitive personal information from unsuspecting consumers, a study says.

Of those receiving the phony e-mails, most thought they might be from legitimate companies — seven in 10, or 70 percent, were fooled by the e-mails, said the report.

The study released Wednesday by America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance looked at Internet security and ''phishing scams.''

''What's happening is that more and more people are actually engaging in transactions online that would generate e-mail traffic that the scammers are copycatting,'' said Tatiana Platt, senior vice president at AOL, which is a unit of New York-based Time Warner Inc.

The study found nearly three-quarters of those surveyed, 74 percent, use their computers for sensitive transactions such as banking, stock trading or reviewing medical information. That leaves phishers with a good chunk of Internet users to target, Platt said.

Platt said too many people still don't have adequate computer security to guard against viruses, hackers and other threats. The study found 81 percent of home PCs lacked at least one of three critical protections — updated antivirus software, spyware protection and a secure firewall.

Source: The Morning Call