COVINGTON, Ga. — Residents and businesses have fallen victim to financial scams in recent months, and the city police department wants to help raise awareness of the issue “phishing” and “spoofing.”

Lt. Brent Fuesting, of the Covington Police Department, said the department has received many reports within the last six months of people being scammed out of several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Usually, people doing these scams typically just target the elderly,” Fuesting said. “But in the last six months, there have probably been about seven local businesses to fall victim to scams, losing a total of about $750,000.”

Fuesting said those have typically been smaller businesses, where losing $100,000 on such scams “really hurts.”

Businesses are typically attacked through a strategy called “email spoofing,” Fuesting said, where the scammer tricks users into thinking a message came from a person or entity they either know or can trust. Fuesting said this is done by scammers making subtle changes like “forging email headers so the client software displays the fraudulent sender address, which most users take at face value.” For example, a scammer could take an address like “send@email.com” and make one change, like turning the letter “o” to a zero, becoming “send@email.c0m” — a change that would likely go unnoticed to the average email user.

To help combat the issue and help others avoid becoming a victim of scamming, Fuesting detailed several signs that a person could be under attack:

• Scammers pretend to be from an organization you know.

Scammers often pretend to be contacting you on behalf of the government. They might use a real name, like the social security administration, the IRS or Medicare, or make up a name that sounds official. Some pretend to be from a business you know, like a utility company, a tech company or even a charity asking for donations.

• Scammers say there’s a problem or a prize.

They might say you’re in trouble with the government. Or you owe money. Or someone in your family had an emergency. Or that there’s a virus on your computer.

Some scammers say there’s a problem with one of your accounts and that you ned to verify some information.

Others will lie and say you won money in a lottery or sweepstakes but have to pay a fee to get it.

• Scammers pressure you to act immediately.

Scammers want you to act before you have time to think. If you’re on the phone, they might tell you not to hang up so you can’t check out their story.

They might threaten to arrest you, sue you, take away your driver’s or business license, or deport you. They might say your computer is about be corrupted.

• Scammers tell you to pay in a specific way.

They often insist that you pay by sending money through a money transfer company or by putting money on a gift card and then giving them the number on the back.

Some will send you a check (that will later turn out to be fake), tell you to deposit it and then send them money.

So, how does one avoid being scammed?

Fuesting suggests starting by blocking unwanted calls and filtering unwanted text messages.

Next, never give your personal or financial information in response to a request that wasn’t expected, Fuesting said. Legitimate organizations won’t call, email or text to ask for someone’s personal information, like a Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers.

If an email or text message is received from a company that the user does business with and it looks real, still take a step back, Fuesting said, and don’t click on any links. Instead, contact the business using a method of contact that is trustworthy. Don’t call the number given in the message or seen on the caller ID.

Resist the urge to act immediately. Fuesting said legitimate businesses will give someone time to make a decision. Anyone who pressures another to pay or give away personal information is likely a scammer.

Know how scammers tell you to pay. Never pay someone who insists payment is given with a gift card or by using a money transfer service, Fuesting said. And never deposit a check and send money back to someone.

Finally, stop and talk to someone who is trusted. Before anything else is done, Fuesting suggests telling someone — a friend, family member, neighbor — what happened. Talking about it could help determine that it is, in fact, a scam.

If someone believes they are being attacked or have already fallen victim to a scam, Fuesting encouraged reporting the crime to local law enforcement officials.