Internet is full of scams. People do fall for it...
Police Log: January 31, 2011 - South Kingstown, RI Patch
it sounds like overkill, by my passwords will typically have uppercase, lowercase, symbol(s) and number(s). Facebook, email, bank, etc... And I try to use different pw for every site.
It is hard to keep track of all of that, but I am paranoid.
Got a virus last week that when I went on any credit card or bank website another window would pop up (that looked just like the bank or whatever) and ask for additional info.. ssn, dob, etc... I call the bank and they confirmed it was a virus. Symantec, with definitions fully updated did not pick up the virus on repeated scans, and it took forever to end up finding and cleaning the bs....