Phishing
Also called smishing, vishing, spear-phishing
A message or call pretending to be someone you trust, to get you to click, pay, log in or share a code.
Phishing is impersonation with a request. The message (an email, text, call, chat or QR code) poses as a bank, a delivery firm, your boss or a family member, and wants one action from you: open a link, enter a password, read out a code, move money or install something.
AI changed the cost, not the trick. Messages are now fluent, personalised and in any language, so typos and clumsy wording are no longer reliable warning signs. What still gives phishing away is the request itself and the pressure around it. The defence is to go in yourself: open the app or type the address you know, and check there.
For example
A text says your parcel is held for a small fee and links to a perfect copy of the courier's site; the courier's real app shows no such fee.
Put it to use
Where you'll meet phishing in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, how to use it there, and the mix-up most people make.
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