While many countries worldwide have been trying to get to the bottom of phishing scams and identity theft attempts, Italy has just made progress with an operation dubbed "Phish and Chip."

As part of this op, authorities in Italy have arrested 26 people in an alleged banking scam. According to reports, the phishers used phoney e-mails that appeared to come from Italys postal operator, Poste Italiane, which also offers bank accounts, insurance and loans. The scam e-mails conned recipients into giving out personal financial details, in order to gain access to the victims' bank accounts.

Italian police have arrested 18 Italian citizens and eight Eastern Europeans. In the end of June, Italian websites were hit with a so-called "Italian Job" malware attack; there's no news yet whether anyone arrested in this scam was involved in last months attack, reports say.

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