NEW YORK -- Verizon is warning customers to watch out for a new wave of e-mails that ask consumers to supply personal information on fake websites designed to look like legitimate websites of Verizon and other major companies.

The personal information -- for example, social security numbers, driver's license numbers and credit card numbers -- can then be used to commit identity theft. The scam is often referred to as "phishing," and recently it has been on the increase.

"Verizon never sends e-mail messages asking for this type of information," said Jim Matteo, Verizon Security team leader for cyber security. "This is an old scam, but lately we've seen more of it with more sophisticated phony Web pages that consumers could take to be legitimate."

Verizon constantly looks for these and other types of scams, and the company maintains a Web site with information about scams and how to avoid becoming a victim: http://www.verizon.com/alert. From this page, customers can report a scam/fraud by clicking on the "Contact Us" link and then "Send us an e-mail" from the following page. All scams and frauds are reported to the Verizon Security team through this process.