Beware of Vishing, Says Government

Many people are aware of "phishing," (pronounced: fish-ing)
in which e-mail recipients are directed to a fake website
seeking their financial details but might not know about a
new Internet scam called "vishing, " which is short for
"voice phishing. " Vishing uses Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) phones instead of a bogus web link to steal
financial information.

A recent incident involved customers from Santa Barbara
Bank and Trust in California. Internet con artists sent
account holders e-mails asking them to telephone the bank.
Customers who responded heard a recorded message asking
them to enter their account details. A second incident
earlier this month involved Paypal customers.

VoIP service providers allow their customers to pick a
telephone number that appears to be based elsewhere, so it's
possible for fraudsters to pick a phone number in the
same area code and prefix of a major bank despite being
physically located somewhere hundreds of miles away in
another city or state.

Always remember that a financial institution already has
your personal information, so if you get an unsolicited
telephone call where someone is asking you to provide or
confirm any of your personal information, immediately hang
up and call your financial institution.

Learn how to protect your personal information with FCIC's
Consumer Focus at:
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cfocus/cfpersonalinfo06/focus.htm


Tags: vishing

posted by Consumer Help Web Editorial Team at 4:22 PM |