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Phishing is the acquisition of  confidential customer information like login id, password, credit card details by  fraudulent means. Emails and instant messenger are widely used for phishing, though some conmen try to acquire the information on phone.

Most phishing is done by sending emails to to email addresses harvested from the internet - websites and mailing lists. In countries, where privacy laws are lax, the employees or vendors of  the bank may sell the confidential information. The emails appear to be sent by a bank or a online money transfer company like PayPal or Moneybookers.

For banks, the user is informed that  personal data has to be updated and are asked to click a link. Usually the link will seem to be to the companies website, but the url will be slightly different - that is, .net instead of .com or similar variations.  The link will lead the user to the phishers website, where the confidential information is then stored. This information  is used to access the user account and transfer money out.  Sometimes, the confidential data is used to steal identities.

For online money transfer companies like PayPal and Moneybookers an email is sent informing the person that some one has sent them money. To accept the online transfer, the person has to login to the account, but the link usually leads to a scam website. Since verified PayPal accounts are linked to credit card and bank accounts, the affected person can lose large amounts of money. Sometimes phishing emails seem to be sent from eBay accounts.

Usually the websites used by companies for phishing are shut down almost immediately after the scam is detected by either the hosting company or the registrar. However, since millions of phishing emails are sent, usually a few hundred people are fooled by these emails and  lose their money. Many times, the scammers are located in some other country, so taking legal action becomes difficult.