As technology continues to become more sophisticated, hackers evolve their tactics as well. While you should always be skeptical of unsolicited emails, run a scam email address search when in doubt to quickly identify the sender. This can be done with several different tools, but the best and easiest to use is BeenVerified. It scours public records and other sources to find out everything about the person behind an email address, including social media accounts, phone number, physical address, and background check results.

A common tactic is to include a link in the body of the scam email address search that redirects you to a fake website. Often, scammers will also obscure the destination URL by placing it in a button. This makes the link appear to be legit, but hovering over it will show you the actual address.

Don’t Fall for Scams: How to Use Scam Email Address Search to Protect Yourself Online

Another sign of a scam email is an incomprehensible subject line. This should be an immediate red flag. Additionally, no legitimate organization will use your first name in their greeting (see: Dear Valued Customer).

If you have received an email from a company with which you do business, be wary if they ask for any personal information. For example, your bank will never ask you to update your account information over email, and they will not require you to do so within a limited time frame. Remember, no one willingly gives out their private email address to random websites without checking that website’s privacy policy or opting out of mailing lists.