Phishing is the attempt to obtain your sensitive information for malicious reasons, by the criminals disguising themselves as a trustworthy entity through social engineering and electronic communications.
Your best defense is to follow your gut and use common sense to avoid becoming a victim.
Here are a few tips that may help you stay out of harm’s way:
- Never share personal information over the phone. If you’re unsure just hang up. Legitimate companies or institutions will never ask for such information.
- When reading emails:
- Never open links from unknown mail sources.
- Check the sender’s email address as well as the body of the email for errors and typos.
- Errors and typos in the email are an easy sign you're about to be phished.