How does phishing work?

Phishing in different words is a cybercrime in which a hacker accuses a 'bait' by contacting via e-mail, phone or SMS via a person pretending to be a legal institution or company. Its purpose is to lure people into sharing sensitive information such as personal details, banking and credit card details and passwords. Typical hacker tricks are great deals / promotions that attract attention. For example, many say you won an iPhone, lottery, or other cool prize. Just don't click on any suspicious emails.

The next hacker method is hyperlinks, or questionable links, which may not be what you think. The link may be completely different than it seems, for example, a popular website with spelling errors.

And remember about email attachments - if you see an attachment in an email that you didn't expect or it doesn't make sense, don't open it! They often contain elements such as malware or other viruses.

Unusual Sender - Whether it looks like it's coming from someone you don't know or someone you know, if something seems unusual, unexpected, out of character or just plain suspicious, don't click on it!

The classic phishing fraud attempt begins with an email from a bank, email service provider, or other known entity. These messages usually require a click on the link to check your personal data. Failure to confirm such information leads to suspension or deletion of the account.  To be true, phishing messages contain logos and images related to the activity the criminal is impersonating.

Instead of moving to a bank or other activity that we expect to see after the email, the link leads to the fraudster's website. Everything that will be entered there will be sent to the creator, together with the login and password to the trusted site. Once an account has been accessed, the attacker may use it in different ways, depending on the account type.  In the case of an e-banking account, the swindler can purchase what he wants and make a transfer from our account: the email address can be used to log in to the forums, view email correspondence, send spam to other users.

You've already explained everything but I would like to add how to protect yourself from phishing. This seems to me to be quite important.

Anti-phishing protection is a layered mechanism, and the first line of protection is spam filtering - a solution that is usually built into antivirus software and sifts messages from legal ones.

A good anti-spam filter has the function of blocking spam on the fly before it reaches the mailbox, so the user does not even see a suspicious message.

The second layer of protection is fraud protection and an anti-phishing module. These are further antivirus components that analyze the pages you have been on and check if they were created to steal your data or not. Even if you are a victim of phishing, the antiphishing module should warn you before entering important data (credit card number, expiration date, CVV code, PIN number or other data). Last but not least, setting up a two-step verification on important accounts is essential. This allows you to make sure that no one will receive our login data and will not get into your account without a second login step, such as sending a confirmation code to our phone.

Phishing is a scam used by online criminals to obtain valuable information, such as logins and passwords oraz credit card numbers.

The name evokes sound associations with fishing. Criminals, like anglers, use a properly prepared "lure". In this role they usually use fake e-mails and text messages. More and more often scammers act also through communicators and community portals.

In order to inspire the trust of the victim, phishers impersonate commonly recognized companies and institutions - banks, offices, auction portals, courier and telecommunication companies. With the help of fake messages they try to persuade the victim to click on the link in the message. It usually leads to a website created by fraudsters. It is deceptively similar to the authentic website of the company or institution from which the message allegedly comes - but in fact, it is a trap set for careless internet users.

The fraudsters use the fake website to obtain the data that the victim himself makes available to them, they are convinced that they are logging into the authentic transactional service of their bank. It is also common practice to send out fake e-mails, the content of which encourages Internet users to download a harmful file, which is included in the attachment.

Phishing is a devious method of Internet fraud, through which a criminal impersonates an institution or person. The aim of this activity is to scam personal data, such as bank account and credit card numbers, log-in passwords and other confidential information. Phishing is also called password harvesting fishing, the purpose of which is to steal credit card numbers through various techniques.

Examples of phishing:

• Sending e-mails to bank customers with infected attachments, which openly results in downloading malicious software that encrypts data on disk. In order to get back access to the files, the injured person must transfer a certain amount of money to the criminals' account.
• URL phishing. What does this mean in practice? This method consists in sending a link directing the user to a fake login page (e.g. a bank) in order to accept new regulations or change the password of internet banking. Such a site is very similar to the one from the original site. By entering the login and password in it, we pass them on to the criminals. 
• Items are given "for free". On auction services, criminals put up expensive gadgets, which they claim are unnecessary. They only ask for payment by courier, sending a link directing users to a fake payment site.
• Sending false messages with attachments to companies with the threat of initiation of debt collection proceedings for allegedly unpaid invoices. 
• E-mail message from a person allegedly living abroad, who cannot receive a very large inheritance due to legal obstacles. In this message, the fraudster uses incorrect Polish and asks the victim for an urgent answer and help due to the coincidence of his or her name with that of the testator.
• The car ads offer higher and luxury class cars at a much lower price than the market. The fraudster claims to be a person living in England and using the vehicle with the steering wheel on the left-hand side there. As the most common argument for a low price, he gives a low utility of such a car and asks for an advance payment in order to bring the car to Poland.

Phishing is a type of cyber attack where hackers send fraudulent communications that appear to come from a reputable source, such as a bank or a trusted company. These communications often contain misleading links or attachments that can steal sensitive information, such as login credentials or financial details, when clicked on or downloaded. To protect yourself from phishing attacks, make sure to never click on suspicious links or download attachments from unknown sources. Always verify the sender's email address and be cautious of any requests for personal information. Additionally, keep your security software up to date and be vigilant for any signs of phishing attempts.