With Black Friday 2022 and Christmas approaching, it is not only the start of the peak shopping period but also the beginning of major scam season.

One of the main types of scam used by criminals is known as phishing. A cousin of text message scamming method ‘smishing’, it can be a highly sophisticated way of getting you to part with your hard-earned cash.

The latest such scam has hit FreshBooks – a business providing self-employed people and small firms with accounting software.

So, what do you need to know about this scam – and what is phishing? Here’s everything you need to know.

Phishing is a form of criminal scam that takes place via email, text message, social media and – less commonly – phone calls. It is a type of scam used by fraudsters to try to trick people into giving them money or sensitive personal details.

Personal details they might be after include: passwords, addresses and debit/credit card details.

This scam works in a plethora of different ways, but the most common method involves the sending links or attachments via email. Should you click on them, you’re at risk of having malware installed on your computer or phone, which essentially allows criminals to access your device remotely.

Another form of phishing sees scammers…