Watch out of emails trying to steal your passwords

I've been getting more calls that usual from people wanting to know if they need to "Validate their email account" or such things.

• The goal is to steal your email/password combination so that the hacker can take over your account.

• The emails are designed to make you act before you think. They can look good. The days of misspellings and bad grammar have largely passed.

So, how do you tell?

• First, just know that 99% of the time, this is junk email.

• You can hover over the links in the email (don't click on them) and see what the real web address is. Most likely it'll not make any sense.

• You can go directly to the account's website, by typing the web address in your browser. Sign in. If there's any problems, you'll get a notification.

Other than that, make the junk emails as Junk or delete them.