What is Phishing spamming?

Answer 1

In short, it is unwanted email which tries to trick you into giving them information or money you would not ordinarily give them.

Spam is simply unwanted email, usually from people you don't know, and usually trying to sell or promote something. Phishing is a fraud technique where the attacker tries to trick you into trusting them and giving them information you would not normally give them be impersonating a site you are likely to trust. In some cases, they will try to trick you into paying them money. To do that, they will trick you into thinking they are dealing with someone you know and trust.

Examples:

1. You get an email claiming to be from your bank. They say that there are problems with your account and that all you have to do is to click and give them your password. The only thing is, you are taken to another site, not your bank. Then you are either given a page that looks like your bank's site, or you are forwarded to your bank's site immediately after giving the impostors your password. Then you may notice your money is missing a few days later.

2. You get an email from someone claiming to be Yahoo! saying there is a problem with your account and that you have to fill out a web form. The fake "Yahoo!" asks for your password, and you fill out the form. Then in a few days, you find you are locked out of your account or that someone has been using your account to send spam.

3. The director of the IRS received an email that claimed to be from the IRS saying he owed them so much money. He knew it was not from the IRS since they never do business online. He was impressed however at the quality and realism of the fake IRS site.

Answer 2

"Phishing" refers to a technique where a criminal attempts to entice someone to reveal private (usually financial) information through an email or website designed to look as if it came from a financial institution. The criminal captures the information entered, and can then access the victim's accounts.