CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In case you needed another warning about opening emails you're not expecting and clicking on links or attachments, here it is: Home Depot now says that hackers stole 53 million email addresses, in addition to the previously disclosed 56 million credit and debit card numbers.

This means consumers should be prepared to see emails that look like they're from Home Depot but they're from not very nice people who want to steal your personal information or infect your computer or both.

Home Depot customers should be on guard for real-looking coupon offers, apology letters or information about free identity theft services that surely will be in our inboxes soon, if they haven't arrived already.

Email phishers love to send emails that look like they're from stores we shop at, or are notices of a shipment from FedEx or are threats of prison time from the IRS or are warnings that someone tried to get into one of our financial or email accounts. If you're freaked out enough to cast good judgment out the window and click on the link or download the file, kaboom, you've potentially got lots of problems.

"Customers should be on guard against phishing scams, which are designed to trick customers into providing personal information in response to phony emails," Home Depot said in an advisory to customers on its website.

The home improvement giant disclosed in September that its payment terminals had been hacked during a five-month span and the payment information for 56 million credit and debit cards had been stolen. Enough information was stolen to allow the thieves to create phony duplicate cards with the card holder's name, expiration date, ZIP code and security code.

A few tips that are the most important to remember following this Home Depot breach and every day:

1. Never, ever respond to an email and provide personal information, or click on a link or download an attachment from any sender if you weren't expecting the message. It doesn't matter whether the sender appears to be your bank, your sister or Santa Claus.

Case in point: I frequently get email alerts about supposedly fraudulent activity on my credit card and it's sent to my work email. My credit card issuer doesn't have my work email. Oops.

And I get a dozen or so emails a week that look like they're from my mom, my sister and other people I know. They arrive through the email account I use for Facebook. The problem is that my friends and relatives don't have the email address I use for my Facebook account. Of course, the emails weren't sent by people I know; they are actually links to viruses.

Just this morning I got an email from FBI Director James B. Comey. Isn't that special? He sent me an attachment with a memo. It was sent from the email address fbi.wdc011@gmail.com. (No, the email was not from the FBI.)

2. Never, ever provide personal information over the phone to someone you weren't expecting to call. Ever. I don't care how legitimate or nice they sound.

If you get an email or phone call you feel compelled to check out, pick up the phone and call the entity at a phone number you know to be correct: the number on your statement or card, the number in the phone book, the number on the company's official web site, etc.

One important link: if you want to sign up for Home Depot's free identity theft protection, you can go to https://homedepot.allclearid.com or go directly to Home Depot's web site: homedepot.com

Home Depot suggests that more information about how to avoid phishing and other email scams is available by going to: https://www.onguardonline.gov/articles/0003-phishing