” Its Incentives and threats: How to avoid scammers ‘phishing’ for money, personal information.. ” …+

There are certain rites of passage in life. Milestone birthdays, graduations, marriages or births. And of course, that first email from a Nigerian prince who wants your bank account number to safeguard money with the promise you’ll receive a fortune in return.

“Scammers are always trying new ways and old ways to take advantage of us, and especially our emotional states, to do two things: to steal our money or take our identity,” said Bao Vang, a spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota.

Now, scammers are even going after consumers at their jobs, posing as executives on vacation using personal email accounts to have an invoice paid, only for the payment to end up in the scam artist’s pocket.

“When these spear-phishing emails come, the people are much more likely to disclose invoice data, confidential data, because it’s coming from a trusted name,” said Tami Hudson, a Wells Fargo cybersecurity client officer.

Your instinct may be to assist a higher-up as soon as possible, but first verify internally the request is legitimate.