phish
verb; analogy
to send e-mails claiming to be from a major online company that contain links to bogus web sites that emulate the company. The goal is to trick the recipient into giving the phisher personal information, like a credit card number. the process of phishing is analogous to fishing for responses. The spelling could have changed from “fishing” to “phishing”.
Etymology : Unknown
Source : Article in consumer reports warning about the dangers of phishers.
Last modified: 10 June 2008