We have all spent extra hours online over the past few months and you’re probably being extra careful with your personal information. However, determined criminals can “phish” for information.

The Norton website shares these clues to help you spot a scam and keep your data safe:

• Carefully consider requests for personal information: Government agencies and legitimate organizations won’t ask for your Social Security number, passwords, or other private details via email.
• Avoid untrustworthy links: You can determine where a link is actually going by hovering your mouse over it and looking at the website address, or the URL. Many times you’ll be able to tell that it’s not a legitimate online destination. On the other hand, some scammers can create very realistic looking destination URLs, so be cautious and delete the link in case of any doubt.
• Grammatical Mistakes: Errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar are telltale clues of a phishing attempt. Again, delete the message immediately.
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• Generic Greetings: “Dear sir or madam,” or “To whom it may concern,” means that the sender has no idea who you are. That doesn’t mean it is an attempt at phishing, but you should probably take a closer look at the correspondence.
• Requests for Instant Action: Phishing scams will insist that you respond immediately. Don’t panic; just delete the message.