Question: Describe phishing and vishing. Phishing is a scam that uses e-mail or pop-up messages that claim to be from familiar banks, Internet service providers, or other organizations asking for personal information. The purpose of phishing is to get unsuspecting victims to disclose personal information such as credit card numbers. Vishing is the voice equivalent of phishing, and consists of a voice message or e-mail telling the user to make a phone call designed to elicit credit card information.