Phishing definition

Email scams whose purpose is identity theft. These messages are designed to “phish” for personal and financial information (e.g. passwords, usernames, social security numbers, credit card numbers, mother’s maiden name, etc.) from the recipient. They mostly include reply-to addresses, links, and branding that appear to come from credit card companies, banks and some of the Web’s most well-known sites including eBay, PayPal, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, UPS, and AOL.