Those bogus scams have been going on forever. They must work as they continue to this day to keep sending out millions of eMails such as what you have to people. Used to be a dozen or more claiming to be PayPal coming in daily to my various eMails, but they'll use whatever they think will draw someone to click. You'll usually get what looks to be a legitimate page and if you fill in your information, well you're screwed. Banks and businesses don't send out requests like that and most will warn you on their websites not to fall prey to such tactics. Best rule of thumb when dealing with your online accounts is to enter the URL yourself, never click on a link in an eMail. Never.
In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites (YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Windows Live Messenger), auction sites (eBay), online banks (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase), online payment processors (PayPal), or IT Administrators (Yahoo, ISPs, corporate) are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging,[1] and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Even when using server authentication, it may require skill to detect that the website is fake. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users,[2] and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies.[3] Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.
A phishing technique was described in detail in 1987, and the first recorded use of the term "phishing" was made in 1996. The term is a variant of fishing,[4] probably influenced by phreaking,[5][6] and alludes to baits used to "catch" financial information and passwords.