{"id":186604,"date":"2026-05-07T22:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T22:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/186604\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T22:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T22:18:10","slug":"pennsylvania-attorney-general-shares-tips-on-identifying-phishing-scams-offers-advice-for-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/186604\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Attorney General shares tips on identifying phishing scams, offers advice for victims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cbf6eb4371932aecfb4a87c7211508ee.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Pennsylvania Attorney General\u2019s Office wants people to be aware of phishing scams happening in the area.<\/p>\n<p>What is a phishing scam?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Attorney General Dave Sunday said residents have received digital invitations to events like conferences and parties via social media and email. These invitations often include links that will ask users to enter login information for Google, Apple, Microsoft of similar accounts. This is known as phishing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What people may not know is that they are exposing their personal information and making their devices susceptible to malware, which can then be installed by cybercriminals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cScammers are constantly evolving their tactics to appear more credible and trustworthy,\u201d Sunday said. \u201cIf you receive an unexpected invitation that requires you to log in or provide personal information, take a moment to verify it directly with the sender \u2013 that extra step can protect your personal data and prevent serious harm.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>How to spot and avoid phishing scams<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On Thursday, Sunday shared a few tips for spotting phishing scams. Those tips include:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Verifying the invitation with the sender of the email via a text or telephone call.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hovering over links to confirm they lead to a legitimate website \u2013 if you\u2019re unsure, do not click.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Being cautious of generic invites.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The AG said it is important to remember that legitimate invites will never ask you to enter a password and very rarely ask you to download something.<\/p>\n<p>What should I do if I fall for a phishing scam?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">If you believe your information has been compromised via a phishing scam, you should:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Change your email password immediately.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Enable two-step authentication for your email account.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Report the email to your provider as a phishing attempt or scam.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Victims can also contact the Attorney General\u2019s Bureau of Consumer Protection by calling 1-800-441-2555 or emailing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/mailto:scams@attorneygeneral.gov\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:scams@attorneygeneral.gov;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;scams@attorneygeneral.gov&quot;}\" class=\"link \" target=\"_blank\">scams@attorneygeneral.gov<\/a>. Complaints can also be made online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.attorneygeneral.gov\/submit-a-complaint\/scams-complaint\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Click here to file a complaint.;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Click here to file a complaint.&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Click here to file a complaint.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/mobile-apps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:FREE WPXI News app;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;FREE WPXI News app&quot;}\" class=\"link \">FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Follow Channel 11 News on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpxi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Facebook;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Facebook&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPXI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Twitter;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Twitter&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Twitter<\/a>. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Watch WPXI NOW;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Watch WPXI NOW&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pennsylvania Attorney General\u2019s Office wants people to be aware of phishing scams happening in the area. What&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9940,83222,83221,28,30,29,21707,83220,68530],"class_list":["post-186604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-attorney-general","tag-digital-invitations","tag-email-account","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-personal-information","tag-phishing-scam","tag-phishing-scams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}