A common scam used to steal passwords and personal information by impersonating a legitimate company is called what?

• A. Pharming
• B. Vishing
• C. Phishing
• D. Spoofing

Answer: (C)

Phishing is a deceptive technique that tricks you into revealing passwords or personal information by impersonating a legitimate company. It usually arrives as an email, text, or message that looks like it’s from a trusted source and urges you to click a link or enter login details on a fake site. The goal is to steal credentials by exploiting trust and urgency.

Pharming, by contrast, redirects you to a fraudulent site without you clicking a malicious link, often by manipulating DNS. Vishing uses phone calls to persuade you to disclose information. Spoofing involves forging the appearance of a legitimate source, such as the sender’s address or a website URL, and can be part of phishing but doesn’t by itself describe the whole impersonation-and-info-stealing scenario. The classic phishing scenario combines impersonation with a direct request for sensitive data, making it the best fit for this description.