Another way scammers/spammers worm their way in is by 'spoofing' your email address, or someone you have previously sent an email to in the past. I occasionally get emails from people I know, some of whom died some years ago.
Ok. This may be a high learning curve for some, but for many years I have had three email addresses, which I use depending on what or who I am dealing with. So I have an email account that I use for personal and potentially trusted sites, and the other two for one off purchases or getting access to sites. Over the years the 'junk' email address has become just that - full of junk, with the occassional bona fide transaction.. My email address for 'personal' use does have some junk/spam/scam stuff sent to it, but virtually all of the 'junk' is captured and directed into a 'junk folder'. Any good Mail system should have this automatic re-direction and automatic deletion after a period of time. My three email addresses are all Hotmail accounts.
Over the years I have also built up a large list of User names and passwords in order to access websites or make purchases. So much so they currently stand at two full pages of A4! I keep the list next to my PC, and amend occassionally. All of this takes effort, but in the long run it is worth it.
BTW, if you are an online Natwest customer, you can download Malwarebytes Premium for free for all of your household devices.
Stay safe and remember, never trust any email you receive, unless you have checked the senders address, or checked their credentials and even then be very suspicious and check with friends. People that seek to steal money from those who are vulnerable are scum of the worst kind and I would hope that very bad things happen to them.