A WARNING has been issued to the public that cyber criminals are out there and they are using phishing emails to secure sensitive information.

Cumbria Trading Standards has joined the National Cyber Security Centre in warning the public about the tricks of scammers.

Cyber criminals send messages that sound urgent or official, asking for personal or financial information.

The aim could also be to send the user to a website that installs viruses on their computer, stealing your passwords.

Anyone who receives and email that they believe is suspicious should contact the NCSC on report@phishing.co.uk

Since August 31, the number of such reports stands at 2,330,000 with the removal of 9,315 scams and 22,237 URLs.