Has your email been hacked? Your Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn account? Your bank account? All of these incidents can be tabulated as credential harvesting by cyber criminals.
What do these cybercriminals want? They want to find out what your passwords and usernames for various accounts are so they can compromise your accounts. They may also wish to sell this data to other people on the dark web. Typically, they are seeking a monetary prize.
How can you tell if you are being solicited by a legitimate or fraudulent person or organization? Beware of any email or text message that asks you for your password, username, or login credentials. Oftentimes, these texts or emails will have misspelled words or wrong punctuation or anything else that may look the slightest bit suspicious. Do not open them! Do not reply! They may also slip in under the guise of a browser add-on. If you grant them access they can view your entire browsing history. You can never be too cautious.
Do not click on any suspicious links sent via email or text messages. Only download items that come from known sites or people. Always double-check your email and select the suspicious messages as spam or junk. Never unsubscribe to an email as it may also contain a link to capture data from your computer or phone. If any suspicious items come through to your phone and you use the iPhone it has a feature for text messages that you can simply delete or delete and report.