FBI Says VoIP ôVishingö Scams Increasing
Telephone phishing attacks against U.S banks and consumers continue to rise at an alarming rate, warns the FBI. These so-called vishing attacks are facilitated by the use of voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology, which allows criminals to make cheap and anonymous calls to intended victims.
Vishing operates like phishing, by using automated voice recordings or emails to persuade consumers to make a call and divulge their Personally Identifiable Information). In their vishing messages, criminals claim customer bank accounts are suspended, deactivated, or terminated. They then provide a telephone number and ask recipients to contact their bank. This, of course, is not an authentic bank telephone number. People who call the ôcustomer serviceö number are greeted with a message supposedly from their bank. They are then led through a series of voice-prompted menus that ask for account numbers, passwords, and other critical information in order to resolve a ôpendingö security issue. The whole operation is facilitated by the use of VoIP, says the FBI. Because of the low cost of long-distance VoIP calls, the scam is cheap for criminals to set up. And, because VoIP is Web-based, criminals can use software programs to create phony automated customer service lines. VoIP calls are not always easy to trace, says the FBI. This is because criminals thwart caller ID systems by masking the number they are calling from, while in other cases they hack into the VoIP service of a legitimate subscriber and use it to defraud people. Related Links
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