Say your bank emails you and stating that they found someone using your debit card for a large online purchase but in order to stop the purchase they need to confirm your pin number. You might question the authenticity, but if it’s from someone you know at your bank, you may not think twice and provide highly confidential information.
Phishing is when someone pretends to be someone else, so that they can gather personal data from you.   They may try to use that information to try to hack into your account or pretend to be you to gain access to your friends and family.
Be careful. Phishing may appear to be innocuous but when in fact it is a form of identity theft.