What exactly is Phishing? And how can you avoid being a victim of phishing?

Since the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has been a part of our lives I have received a lot of suspicious emails from all of my accounts. Most of these emails seem like they are legit and are asking for more information on an existing email account. I have gotten a couple of emails about my Amazon order and it is lost in shipping. The bad thing is it is not an order I had made with Amazon and made me curious about these 'phishing' emails.

Phishing emails are the most common type of scam emails or even text messages you may be receiving. According to the Federal Trade Commission:

“scammers use email or text messages to trick you into giving them your personal information. They may try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. If they get that information, they could gain access to your email, bank, or other accounts."

Here are some things you can do to not be a victim of these 'Phishing' scams.

1. Make sure you have current virus protection on your computer. It is important that it is updated for the latest threats that are out there.

2. Make sure your phone is updated to the latest operating system. Do not put off phone updates they contain important information to keep you protected.

3, Protect your accounts by using multi-factor authentication.  All of your email accounts and social media accounts should have this feature. If not make sure they have updated to the latest version.

4. Make a backup of all of your personal data. Make sure this backup is on a separate drive from your computer, that way if your computer becomes infected you still have all of these files including those photos of your last vacation.

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