Phishing, Smishing and Vishing: What They Are

Overhead view of three devices side by side on a weathered wooden bench: a laptop showing an envelope icon, a smartphone showing a speech bubble, and an old corded telephone handset.

Phishing arrives by email. Smishing arrives by text. Vishing arrives by phone call. The goal is the same in every case: get you to click a link, hand over information, or transfer money.

Text messages are now the most effective delivery channel^[1], increasingly through messaging apps like WhatsApp too, not just standard texts. People open the vast majority of texts they receive.^[2] Smishing click rates run between 19 and 36%, compared to 2 to 4% for email phishing. That gap explains why your phone has become the scammer's preferred route in.

The message is almost always urgent. Your account is at risk. Your package cannot be delivered. You owe a fine. Act now. That urgency is designed to stop you thinking before you click.