Someone please explain to me what phishing is, and what would this YAHOO LOTTERY INTL INC stand to gain?

I received this Lottery winning e-mail from Yahoo Lottery INTL INC.

I know it is a scam, just curious what do these scam artists get out of it? And what is Phishing? Did I spell that right?Someone please explain to me what phishing is, and what would this YAHOO LOTTERY INTL INC stand to gain?
1. Yes, you got phishing spelled correctly. Here's what that means: An attempt to steal passwords and private account information through fake web sites and emails that look like those of trusted companies. A phishing web site or email can look identical to the real thing, so it can be hard to tell that it's fake. Phishing schemes can also use instant messages, typically when an account is compromised. In this case, the fraudster sends phishing messages to the contacts in the account's Messenger or friend list.



2. That message is both a fake and an outright fraud. Don't give the phishers any of your personal information at all. Spam that scam message straight into oblivion right away. This is one lottery you'll never win because it's "bogus."



Another thing, the phishers telling you to "keep this lottery information confidential" would indicate to you not to say anything about this to anybody until they have finished scamming you.Someone please explain to me what phishing is, and what would this YAHOO LOTTERY INTL INC stand to gain?
The scam is if you fall for it and believe you actually won. Some ask you to cash a check they send to cover part of the supposed winnings tax. They ask you to money gram or western union a portion back to them for those taxes which if you do, you've just sent them good money.



Their check is worthless and the person who receives it packs up and moves to another scam location so they can collect a whole lot of real money from suckers before you know the checks are fake.



I've seen people who spent off of these bogus checks have to pay back thousands of dollars to the bank once the check is returned.Someone please explain to me what phishing is, and what would this YAHOO LOTTERY INTL INC stand to gain?
You can scam someone for all sorts of crap, their credit card number, personal info, you could infect their computer with all sorts of privacy infringing programs, all that.



Phishing is copying a real website so that it looks almost identical but is fake, so anything you give that site can be used to steal your information.



For example, say you wanted to order something off BestBuy.com. You would pick your items, and check out. And you would give your credit card information right?



Now what if I made a totally fake copy of BestBuy.com, where the credit card information just went to me, so I could use it to buy anything I wanted on your money.



That's phishing.
FUrther ading to FLAKS answer a phishing site domain is not the same i can be slightly diferent to fool the surfers amy be the phishing site of BESTBUYS.COM COULD BE BEST-BUYS.COM.

So you will be left confused wihich one is the real one hence to keep a check on it look for a "lock sign" at the bottom of the window in case you are using Internet Explorer . The lock is dspalyed in yellow color.

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