[pumpkin spice, shopping mall Santas, Mariah Carey songs, porch pirates, and of course, a surge in scams, spam, phishing, and malware. And, of course, a surge in scams, spam, phishing, and malware. Just as you get busy buying stocking stuffers and tinsel, threat actors get busy trying to break into your mailbox with scam emails, phishing attacks, and spam intended to trick you into divulging personal information.

Google just announced details of a feature it introduced this year that resulted in a 35% drop in scam emails reported by its 2.5 billion users. That means fewer phishing and malware scams reaching their inboxes.

Millions of potentially dangerous messages are being blocked because Google is leveraging AI, which is using a new large-scale language model to discover patterns and block 20% more spam than before. Below are the three scams that Google highlighted as being the most commonly used this holiday season:

Bill scams, in which scammers send fake invoices to victims, prompting them to call to dispute the fictitious bill, and then try to trick them into paying the charges. Although not new, this tactic has seen a resurgence in popularity this season.

Celebrity scams: Anything associated with a celebrity name attracts attention, and scams are no different. Such scams often pretend to come from the celebrity themselves or claim that the celebrity is endorsing a product. This is a classic example of the “too good to be true” scenario, where the victim is approached with the name or friendship of a celebrity in order to build trust.

Extortion scams: The most aggressive method on this list, extortion scams involve emailing victims with personal information, often pictures of their private lives, including home addresses and locations, and sometimes threats to harm them or disclose personal information.

Google offers four pieces of good advice: slow down and ignore the sense of urgency the scammers are trying to create, check the details of suspicious emails, and do not send payment or personal information. No legitimate agency or company will ask for personal information or payment on the spot. Finally, Google encourages users to mark as spam anything they find suspicious.

Additionally, there are other ways to keep your inbox and computer safe. Start by knowing how to recognize spam and scam emails: Do you know the sender? Do you know the sender? Is the subject line blank or does it have unexpected attachments or links? Is the grammar awkward, poor, or misspelled?

While you are the first line of defense, you are not the only line of defense. Make sure you have the best antivirus software set up, updated, and running on your computer, just in case something manages to get into your computer. You can also add the best identity theft protection plan for added security. There is nothing better than knowing that you are well informed and well protected against potential threats and malicious activity.