New communication platforms appear every year, but email remains central to cybercrime.
It is used for password resets, invoices, account notifications, government communication and business transactions.
That makes a compromised email account extremely valuable.
Modern phishing increasingly combines email with phone calls, SMS messages and other channels.
The safest approach is not to decide that one channel is trustworthy and another is dangerous.
Instead, verify important requests independently of the channel that delivered them.
If an email says your account is locked, open the service yourself. If an email requests payment, verify the request using an established process.
Email is still powerful because people still trust it.