Microsoft Files 117 Suits in Fight Against 'Phishing'

Microsoft Corp. has filed 117 lawsuits against unknown Internet site operators who used "phishing" schemes to obtain personal and financial information from unsuspecting consumers, the world's largest software maker said on Thursday.

Often scam artists pose as banks or other legitimate businesses, sending out millions of e-mails or pop-up Web advertisements with requests that the recipient update their account information but instead direct them to fake sites.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said it was filing "John Doe" defendant lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Washington state in an attempt to establish connections between worldwide "phishers" and discover the largest-volume operators.

"We must work together to stop these con artists from misusing the Internet as a tool for fraud," Aaron Kornblum, Internet safety enforcement attorney at Microsoft, said in a statement.

Microsoft has been engaged in a three-year fight against virus writers, hackers, spammers and Internet scam artists, saying that any harm against personal computer users could hurt Windows, the operating system that runs on more than 90 percent of the world's PCs.