Vishing

[jeffrey]

Vishing is a combination of phishing (using fake emails that appear to come from real sites to get you to input your financial information so it can be stolen) and telephone scamming. What makes this combination possible? Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony services which have become popular due to their low costs also make it a lot easier for callers to mask who they are and where they are calling from (including caller ID spoofing services). So it shouldn't come as a surprise that using both email and phone services in combination (and sometimes just by VoIP) has begun to show up.




Just as with a phishing scam, the recipient receives an e-mail saying that financial account information needs to be updated, but instead of asking the recipient to follow a link to do this, the email instead instructs them to call a 1-800 phone number. A recording at that number asks that the person enter their bank account number or credit card information using a touch-tone phone.

Vishing has been successful and is sure to expand because it takes advantage of what customers are already used to in the current system when contacting banks and other financial institutions by phone. It's common to be asked to enter your 16-digit credit card number when calling a credit card company or to be asked to enter your account number when calling your bank before being able to speak to a credit card representative. This makes it especially vital to be sure that the phone number you call is the correct one for your bank or credit card company.

[Broken Arrow]

Fascinating!

I'm usually abreast on technology, but this one is new to me!

Thanks for sharing.

[markio26]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i really feel for the elderly ppl...we know a few of them... a.g. edwards takes care of one of them financially... her son is a geologist in turkey... doesn't care about her finances... her daughter is a barmaid in columbus, oh and knows nothing about finances and doesn't care.... one of our elderly friends is alone, and loses money alot, because you cannot tell her something, she would fall for this scam.....she spends $50 a week on the lottery......i guess, we will have to rely on jeffrey to keep us in the know.......