Cyber criminals will typically use a predictable cycle of steps when launching social engineering scams; although the types of scams may change, the lifecycle often stays the same. They will start by gathering the information they need to establish a relationship with their target. Once they’ve built a rapport with their target, they’ll extract personal information or money from their victim and quickly exit the relationship.

Sending threatening or intimidating emails, phone calls and texts that appear to come from an authority figure such as a police officer, the tax department or a bank is a common technique used by social engineers to scare you into acting on their demands for personal information or money.

Cyber criminals can do their research on your company, personalize and then send a very authentic looking email with a request for payment on an invoice or a wire-transfer to fund a project. Always be on your guard. Urgent requests are also a major red flag of a phishing scam.