Digitalization has significantly changed our lives in recent years. We have seen a huge shift in the way we interact with other people throughout the years. Humanity has been working on digitalization for the good however it came with a price. With this shift comes the emergence of a new generation of criminals that prey on us in order to earn a profit. Our social media postings or fake emails may be used to trick unwary victims into handing over their personal information, or worse, financial data like credit card details to scam artists. And to make matters worse, many people may not know that they have fallen victim to a scam until it is too late to do anything to stop it from happening. These frauds are not only targeting financial damage but also affect the victims emotionally. It is a very good idea to educate yourself about these scams so you don’t fall for them as a victim.
There are many different forms of scams. For example you might have heard of phishing before. Phishing and vishing are very similar. Both of these scams have different audiences. Phishing attacks are mostly directed at businesses, and vishing attacks mainly target individuals. Phishing is delivered via email, while vishing uses voice executed by real humans or via pre-recorded robocalls.
So, do you understand exactly what vishing is and how to prevent falling victim to it? To understand more about vishing, or if you are unfamiliar with it, you may read our article that explains “What is vishing” and how to avoid vishing.
What is Vishing?
What is vishing? Vishing, also known as voice phishing or phone fraud, is a sort of scam in which the perpetrator attempts to mislead the victim into divulging personal information over the phone. Tommi Puhakka, a Finnish police officer who worked in the 1990s, created the word “vishing” to describe this type of fraud, which has been in use since then.
Or, to put it another way, hackers employ vishing to trick their victims into divulging important information such as passwords, account numbers, and credit card information. It works by leveraging Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to deceive consumers into believing they are interacting with a customer support agent for a particular firm. Especially with the advancement of AI technology, it is very easy for scammers to impersonate and make you believe that you are interacting with a responsible or authorized person from your bank.
These criminals generally obtain your data from entities that lack secure protection systems. They may steal the data by hacking or acquire it through illegal ways. Before they target their victims, they make an online research about the target person. Once they have enough information they might try to reach out to you by phishing through an email and try to get your phone number. It usually begins with a phone call informing the victim that they have been picked to earn some sort of award, which they would only obtain if they submit personal information such as passwords, credit card numbers and account numbers to the scammer. They might even ask you to do the work yourself—transferring funds, emailing confidential work-related documents, or sharing details about your employer.
There are a variety of different examples of vishing to consider. It occurs when someone calls you and claims to be from your bank or another organization with whom you have an account in order to obtain information about your account or your credit card. The following are some of the different ways that vishing can occur:
The caller may claim that they are calling regarding a previous transaction or fraudulent bill.
They may inform you that there has been suspicious activity on your account.
They may inquire about personal information such as passwords, credit card numbers or PINs.
If you think those criminals will stop once they get personal information from you, you are wrong. They may drain your bank account or use your credit card details to make unauthorized purchases. Or worse case scenario if they commit full-fledged identity theft, they might use your email credentials to gain your colleagues’ trust and convince them to share confidential business information which can create a bigger problem in your life.
Some vishing schemes are very professional. They plan multiple calls or leave a phone number for you to reach out to make it more credible. We can list the most common 8 vishing tactics.
- AI-based Vishing: In this tactic, scammers create voice recordings and sound boards through AI platforms that can be used to conduct a live conversation, and make the victim believe that they are interacting with a real human.
- Robocall: Robocalls are sounds that are generated through software and they sound like automated phone systems.
- VoIP: Through VoIP, scammers can generate an endless number of phone numbers scaling their attacks much faster and circumventing banned numbers.
- Caller ID Spoofing: Some advanced scammers modify the caller ID to trick their victims into believing the call comes from their bank, the government, or even their employer.
- Dumpster Diving: This method is used against businesses, they reach out to company’s physical trash to find personal data documents, allowing them to launch a successful vishing attack.
- Tech Support Call: These types of scams are for people who might need tech support within their company. Scammers reach out as support agents and get the information from the employer to hack the company systems.
- Voicemail Scam: Scammers regularly leave voicemails through AI or robocalls.
- Client Call: In this one scammers impersonate a company that recently issued an invoice to the victim’s business to collect fraudulent payments.
How to Avoid Vishing?
Today’s world has evolved to the point where vishing has become one of the most common methods for hackers to obtain personal information and other sensitive data from unsuspecting targets. Here are some suggestions for avoiding these types of scams. First of all, nowadays the majority of reliable banks or financial institutions make it clear that they don’t ask for this type of information on the phone, especially if they are reaching out to you.
Do not trust phone numbers from unknown sources, simply don’t pick it up
Hang up immediately if it sound suspicious
Be wary of requests for account numbers, passwords, or other sensitive information such as your credit card number and expiry date etc
Avoid giving any personal information on phone calls to strangers
Don’t share your email or phone number with anyone through social media or email
Before ending our article, we would like to add that you may get answers to your questions on Jeton’s blog page. We are always delighted to share our expertise with you because the internet has become a method to stay up with the rest of the world.
