phishing

British  

/ ˈfɪʃɪŋ /

noun

1. the practice of using fraudulent e-mails and copies of legitimate websites to extract financial data from computer users for purposes of identity theft

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Etymology

Origin of phishing

C21: from fishing in the sense of catching the unwary by offering bait; computer-hacker slang often replaces f with ph

Explanation

Phishing is a scam in which someone emails a victim intending to trick them into revealing bank numbers, passwords, or other sensitive information. Phishing messages often appear to come from reputable companies. Phishing is a common cybercrime involving fraudulent messages that look very real. The person receiving the email may believe it's from their bank, for example, asking them to confirm their social security number or credit card details. With this information, the attacker can move to identity theft, installing malware, or stealing money directly from the victim's account. Hackers reportedly started using this term around 1995, influenced by phreak, a slang word for someone who hacks into a phone system.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

phishing

A Colorado woman fell victim to this phishing scam after receiving what appeared to be a legitimate digital party invitation from her cousin, this time via Paperless Post.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026

In such ruses, fraudsters fool people with malicious software, phishing emails or tweaked digital addresses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Crypto accounts, bank accounts and even eBay accounts are also vulnerable to phishing scams where thieves send an email with a link and implore you to click.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

In a letter to Meta, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the feature could lead to an increase in online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026

Once in a while I’d leak stuff about phishing scams.

From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin