Phishing is the attempt to get you to tell folks your userids and passwords and similar identity-thievable items, usually by tricking you.
The classic is the false bank (or credit card, or PayPal) security notice — “Your account has possibly been violated. Visit our site [click here] and confirm your account identity.” And, when you click on the link, that looks like a real bank/credit card site, you get redirected to something that looks very valid but which, in fact, is not, at which point you enter your account info … and someone else has it.
Heh.
I’m pretty immune to most of these, to the point of not even opening most. But, hey, who could refuse an e-mail “eBay Outbid Notice: NIP NIKE Golf Tiger Woods Driven Poster (Item #4523317189)”? Not I?
Of course, before I click on any links in that e-mail, I noticed that the key link pointed an IP address, not to anything eBayish. But it was darned clever (and likely to take in still more people) …