SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - America Online and Yahoo, two of the world's biggest e-mail providers, said on Monday they would offer a service where companies may choose to charge a tiny fee to ensure that e-mail reaches the intended recipient in a bid to derail spam.

The service, provided in partnership with privately held Goodmail Systems, will also help the providers better protect their customers from online fraud, spam and phishing attacks, said Goodmail Chief Executive Richard Gingras.

Phishing is a practice where criminals send e-mails asking prospective victims to verify personal data through links to real-looking, but fake, Web sites.

Read more about AOL and Yahoo switching to fee based services at http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-02-07T033142Z_01_N06165033_RTRUKOC_0_US-EMAIL-CHARGES.xml.