Have you been targeted by an email scam lately? If you get an email trying to steal your information under false pretenses, that’s a phishing scam. Here are a few email phishing scams that have been forwarded to me lately.

A scammer claimed to be a member of the US armed forces. In the email, the scammer said she had gotten $8.5 million. She told recipients they could receive 30% of the money. They were asked to send the scammer their phone numbers, home address and a copy of their driver’s license.

Another scam claimed to be an email from the Yahoo Mail service. The email claimed the recipient would lose their email account if they didn’t click a link. The link was to “reactivate” their account. The odd thing about this email is it was sent from a Gmail account - definitely not legitimate!

The last email was disguised as a confirmation of an expensive software purchase. It claimed that it was a receipt for a well-known anti-virus software subscription.

How can you avoid phishing scams?

• Look at the sender’s email address. If the email claims to be from a company or business, it will have a related email address. The account maintenance notice above would have come from an automated system. The email would look similar to the ones used to reset your password. Don’t click any links in emails you are not expecting. Do not provide personal information in response to unsolicited emails. Send any fake invoice or receipt emails straight to spam or your email trash can. Just opening scam emails can sometimes put your computer or cell phone at risk.

• Check out the FTC’s tips on how to recognize and avoid phishing scams: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams .