Another new internet term

"Spear phishing," according to the WSJ is a tactic used to train computer users to beware of phishing emails, in which a message appears to be from a trusted site, but isn't, and links the reader to a fake site where he/she is asked to enter personal data, such as his credit card information and passwords.

Sometimes it's pretty clear what's going on because the sender claims to be a business or institution you don't have an account with.

More than 35 million of these targeted email messages to steal critical data and personal information were launched in the first half of the year, according to a report this month from International Business Machines Corp. And use of these scams is soaring: The number of such email messages sent rose more than 1,000% from January to June, the company said.

John Dvorak has a theory that people tend to treat computers and the internet as a form of "magick" as Arthur C. Clarke so famously stated. They give anything from a computer as automatically authoritative and trustworthy and seem to have a slavish response to any link that says "Click here," or "Open the attachment."
Some become anxious and worried when they're told not to open some emails.