Phishing is a hacker respelling of 'fishing' (casting bait for victims), using the ph- from 'phreaking' (phone hacking) — the deliberate misspelling is an in-group marker from hacker subculture.
The fraudulent practice of sending emails or messages pretending to be from a reputable source to trick people into revealing personal information.
A deliberate respelling of 'fishing,' using the ph- spelling convention from 'phreaking' (phone freaking), an earlier hacker term for exploiting telephone systems. The metaphor is of casting bait and waiting for victims to bite. The ph- spelling signals membership in hacker subculture, where deliberate misspellings served as in-group
The ph- spelling comes from 'phreaking,' which started when John Draper discovered in 1972 that a toy whistle from Captain Crunch cereal produced a tone that let you make free phone calls. He became known as Captain Crunch, and 'phone phreaking' spawned the ph-for-f convention in hacker culture.