What is Phishing?

Phishing is when a criminal or scammer pretends to be a person or company you trust. Phishing can happen through email, links in social media, pop up ads, and web pages. The people who participate in this crime are trying to trick you into giving out personal information about yourself (like your login to a website or email account), credit card information, or even trying to get you to send them money.

This kid knows what's up.

Why You Should Care about Phishing

If you end up falling for one of these scams, you could end up costing yourself or your parents a lot money and embarrassment. These scammers are counting on you to be gullible and they make millions off of people who not savvy enough to recognize their tricks.

There is no danger in receiving a phishing email. These criminals want to cast as wide a net as possible so they spam everyone in order to catch someone unaware and steal their information. As long as you don't respond to the message or click any links in the message, you're not at risk.

How to Spot Phishing Emails

With a little help and attention to detail, you can become an expert at spotting phishing attempts. Watch this short video and keep these tips in mind whenever you receive an email that asks you login information, says you've won something, wants you to fill out a survey (to win a prize or just because), tells you your account has been hacked, or makes another claim that elicits a strong, emotional response from you — fear, greed, surprise, etc.

The following video has some good advice, but we don't 100% agree when the narrator says, "Most of the stuff you find on the web is good." That is definitely debatable.