Schuyler Cole needed an accessory for his Palm Treo 600 smartphone, so the Haleiwa, Hawaii, resident fired up his Web browser last month and ran a Google search.

After scanning the search results, he purchased the inexpensive item - a USB cable used to synchronize the Treo's settings with his personal computer - from Cellhut.com, the first online store displayed in the results that looked like it carried the cable. The site featured a "Hackersafe" logo indicating that the site's security had been verified within the past 24 hours.

Later that day, information from Cole's purchase - including his name, address, credit card and phone numbers, and the date and exact time of the transaction - were posted into an online forum that caters to criminals engaged in credit card and identity theft. Ostensibly, the data on Cole was posted as an enticement to other fraudsters lurking on the forum who might be interested in buying large numbers of similar records.