They are at it again! Protect yourself from Stimulus, Tax and PPP email scams.

Hackers are at it again! Trying to steal your Stimulus, Tax and PPP funds. Just when you thought it was safe to open your email inbox again, a fresh wave of scams are afoot. With just one click of a link hackers can steal your information.

Here are some ways to decipher and detect phishing emails. Just in case you’ve never heard of a phishing email, it is an email sent to a target or targets (you and I) by email (telephone or text messages are also used) by someone posing as a legitimate institution or familiar contact to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords. As we enter tax season, and the government begins to send economic recovery funds to individuals and businesses, there is an increased risk of receiving one of these emails. Please review email subjects before clicking and once you have opened an email follow these steps…

What can you do to detect phishing emails?

1. Verify the senders email address (hover above the sender’s name to make sure that the email is from your contact).
   The email might say Clark Kent, but when you hover it may reveal that it is from adc.xyz.us.
2. Be aware of unfamiliar attachments or links
   An email from abc.xyz.us saying that you’ve won a $1,000 gift card or instruction to your accounts so that money can be wired to you.
3. Review this FTC page on How to Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams
4. Review this link from CNET “Just do us a favor & don’t fall for…”