Cybercrime is a very real issue and just in the United States alone, 143 million people were scammed and became victims of hackers. Cybercriminals stole a total of $172 billion from people in 20 different countries, according to a 2017 Norton report. Phishing scams are how they did this too.

Email fraud is being disguised in many different ways these days. Victims are lured in with a promise of sweet pay-off...however it is completely the opposite.

Email scams are real and cybercriminals want to take your money by getting you to share confidential and personal information and have you upload malware on your computer.

Don't Be Fooled by These Four Common Email Scams 

1. "Update Billing Information, Payment Failed" Well know businesses contact you to update your payment information for validation right away, it may be someone like (Hulu) or your service will be canceled. Alert: This is a known email scram that looks real enough (with known logos) and has a tone of urgency to "resolve" the problem now. Action: You would never be asked over an email to give out this information from a true business. Make sure to always check if the email you receive is legitimate. Delete the email immediately.
2. "You Received a Gift Card From Someone" The email is sent to your address and it looks just like a gift. It looks very convincing with the right pictures and wants you to click on a link to receive the card. Alert: Holiday gimmicks are very common around this time of year. When you click on the link you are sent to a site that will most definitely steal your information. Action: It is a good rule of practice to never open a link or an attachment without knowing for sure who sent it to you. Hover your mouse over the link without clicking on it and it will show you the address of the website it wants to take you too. Verify it is indeed the right address. Make sure to delete if it is not.
3. "Receive $2 Million Cash Money" Someone from Nigeria sends an email to you and will be claiming to have a lot of money, writes a sad story about how they can't get the money out of an account and says they will give you a cash reward if you help them retrieve the money. Alert: The scam first came from Nigeria but now can come from anyplace in the world. Bank account information will most likely be required, and you will be asked to pay legal and other fees right away. However, you will never see any "reward" for your efforts. Action: Look at the way the email is written, most times they have horrible grammar mistakes. Ignore and delete it.
4. "Help Disaster Victims" The email asks you to send money to help so-called "victims". Alert: These email scams are usually sent out right after a major disaster and have links or attachments in them that direct users to malicious websites. Action: Go to the website you know is actually helping victims and contribute there.

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