Consumers are being told that they can avoid being victims indentity fraud by using common sense.

The reassurance comes after the European Commission awarded undisclosed funding to a joint antiphishing project between commercial, academic and research groups that will span across three years.

The project aims to develop antiphishing technologies that help to protect and secure global email communication.

Email is currently an insecure method of communication due to the amount of servers it must pass through and be saved to in order to reach the recipient. At any point of the journey, the email can be intercepted, changed or used as a means for a scam. This can in turn lead to consumers falling victims of ID scams.

However, consumers do not have to wait until the research comes into effect to ensure they are safe from such scams all they need is a little bit of common sense.

Tony Naete, managing director for Get Safe Online said: "Several companies offer phishing tools, which offer a valuable solution to this increasingly common type of internet attack. But people also need to use common sense and be vigilant when disclosing private information about themselves.

"The important point to remember is that a bank or payment company will never ask you to resend your password on an email. If you get a suspicious email you can report it to your ISP, the company it purports to be from or to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.” he continued.

The five partners, which include Tiscali, Symantec, Nortel, Lueven and the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS) will each offer a contribution to the AntiPhish project.

Brian Witten, director of government research at Symantec Research Labs, said the research would "be driven by the practical, hands-on experience of industry participants who have expertise with fighting spam on a global scale".

In the latter stages of the project, Tiscali will trial the anti-phishing filters with its broadband customer base, while Nortel will take the project on further, looking into how it can be used on cellular networks.

"We are very happy to be part of this joint effort," said Domenico Dato, R &D manager at Tiscali, "The Antiphish research will be among the activities of Tiscali Labs, our research and development hub that was set up for implementing and testing innovative products and services."