A new consortium of companies from different industries has formed to tackle the problem of online identity fraud, better known as "phishing."

The Trusted Electronic Communications Forum (TECF) has representatives from leading retail, telecommunications, financial services and technology companies. The group will work with the U.S. and other governments, as well as standards organizations and companies, to fix problems such as e-mail and Web-site spoofing, which contribute to a fast-growing online identity theft problem, says Shawn Eldridge, TECF chairman and director of products and marketing at TECF member company PostX.

A number of leading companies have signed on to the TECF, including some that have had their names besmirched by phishing scams in the past. Member companies include Best Buy, AT&T, Charles Schwab & Co., Fidelity Investments, IBM and Siebel Systems, the group said in a statement.

Representatives will form panels to develop long-term and short-term strategies to combat the phishing problem, including new technology and technology standards, best practices and legal action, against suspected identity thieves. There are few specific details about TECF's plans beyond those general goals because the group has just formed, Eldridge said.

The TECF will join other groups devoted to the phishing problem, including the Anti-Phishing Working Group, another industry consortium made up of financial institutions, online retailers, Internet service providers and law enforcement. As opposed to that group, which tracks and reports on phishing scams, the TECF will focus more on developing and promoting standards that companies can use to combat phishing and to prevent the erosion of online commerce, Eldridge said.

In addition to working alongside other anti-phishing groups, TECF will consider recent proposals such as Microsoft's Caller ID specification and a proposal from Yahoo called Domain Keys, both of which are intended to eliminate e-mail spoofing, which spammers and those behind phishing attacks use. However, TECF has not yet taken a position on those technologies, Eldridge said.

A recent Gartner survey found that illegal access to checking accounts is the fastest-growing type of U.S. financial consumer fraud, in part because of the growth in online scams.