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LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - You may have heard of or even experienced receiving a phone call, texts, and emails from someone pretending to be your financial institution. They do this in hopes of gaining personal information, in a tactic called phishing.

The Identity Theft Resource Center named phishing the number one cause of data breaches for the past year.

A financial coach from the Virginia Credit Union, Cherry Dale, advises people to be suspicious of all emails and texts from financial institutions, especially if they ask you to click on a link or send them an account number.

“That is a red flag right there, be suspicious of anything that has that link asking for that personal information,” Dale said.

She said your bank or financial institution already has your information and won’t ask you to send it via email or text.

Dale said if you receive a phone call and the person on the other end is pressuring you to act quickly, chances are it’s a scammer.

“We are so emotionally attached to our money,” Dale said. “It’s very stressful if somebody has access to our money that we don’t want them to, so phishers and scammers know that and use it against you.”

She said if you are unsure if you’re speaking with someone from your financial institution, hang up and call the number on the back of your debit or credit card.

Experts said if you find out you were speaking with a scammer, you should report it to your financial institution to be documented.

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