Here’s how to avoid being taken in by scammers

Sometimes it seems like potential scammers are everywhere you look. Whether it’s an email trying to convince you to help a Nigerian prince who’s down on his luck, a series of phone calls from an unknown number telling you you’re about to be audited by the IRS, or even a good old-fashioned piece of snail mail telling you you’ve won a big prize, it can seem like scammers have managed to creep in all over the place.

Because they’re so prevalent, it can also be easy to feel complacent. But scammers are counting on that, which is why it’s important to stay vigilant. Scammers are creative and always looking for new ways to separate you from your money or information. Fortunately, there are things you can do to protect yourself.

There are a few ways to identify potential scams. First, scammers will often mimic reputable organizations or even people that you know in order to trick you into sharing information that you otherwise wouldn’t share. Relying on caller ID or the return email address isn’t always good enough because scammers can use technology that changes their phone number or they may have even hacked the email address of someone you trust.