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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth content analysis of phishing messages and to enhance understanding of them from a persuasive communication perspective. Design/methodology/approach – This study analysed phishing message content in a persuasion mechanism framework including message presentation and content (rational appeal, emotional appeal, reasoning type). It also used semantic network analysis to identify meaning structure. Findings – The results indicate that phishing messages used logical appeals, reasoning from cause, motivational appeals, appealing to safety needs, and emotional appeals to gain compliance. Semantic network analysis showed that two word clusters represent security and privacy. Research limitations/implications – This study applied modern persuasion and deceptive communication theories to interpret phishing e-mails. The findings enhance relevant theories by including phishing e-mail cases. Practical implications – The results of this study can be utilised for developing phishing prevention techniques and phishing detection software. Originality/value – Past phishing detection studies only used a technological approach, whereas the current study provides a more comprehensive content-oriented and persuasion theory-based understanding of phishing messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]