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Online advertising company Google has promised to “immediately safeguard” Gmail accounts targeted as part of an “industry-wide phishing scheme,” says the BBC.

Windows Live Hotmail users have already been warned to change their password and security question immediately following a “possible Windows Live Hotmail ‘hack’ or phishing scheme where password details of thousands of Hotmail accounts have been posted online,” reported Neowin.

This list contained some 10,000 names.

Now, a further 20,000 names and passwords from such as Yahoo and AOL have been posted online, says the BBC.

Google claims, “fewer than 500 of its accounts had been affected by the scam,” but has refused to say how many accounts on a third recently discovered list, it says, going on:

“The firm stressed that the scam was ‘not a breach of Gmail security’ but rather ‘a scam to get users to give away their personal information to hackers’.”

Some accounts on the 20,000 list, “appear to be old, unused or fake,” says the BBC, adding, “However, BBC News confirmed that many – including Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail addresses – were genuine.

“Other addresses on the list include Comcast and Earthlink accounts.

“It is not clear whether the new lists was part of the same phishing attack that collected the Hotmail addresses or a separate scam.”

Both lists can still be accessed online, says the story.

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