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

Example Sentences

"They rely on highly personalised phishing emails, automatically generated malware, and synthetic identities that appear deceptively real," he said.

From Barron's

Depositing small amounts of money with accompanying phone numbers is a relatively common phishing scam to trick you into calling fake customer-support numbers.

From MarketWatch

It does not offer malware or phishing protection, both of which are provided by some competitors.

From Salon

He also laid out the possibility that there may not need to be a human manually carrying out scams on victims once they engage with mass phishing or fraud messages.

From BBC

Banks or police can now freeze accounts if they determine that a person is giving money to scammers, including falling for a fake job offer or a phishing attack.

From Barron's