Vishing

What it is and how to avoid it

You're probably familiar with phishing, a method scammers use to collect your personal information via email, online forms, and similar means. But what about vishing? The term "vishing" is beginning to show up more often, but it's not yet as widely known and understood as phishing. Knowledge is power in this case. Knowing the following information about vishing will allow you to protect yourself and others in your life.

What Is Vishing?

The term "vishing" comes from the words "voice" and "phishing." From the perspective of the scammer, the goal of vishing is the same. They're trying to obtain your personal information so that they can use it to steal your identity, transfer money from your bank account, take out loans in your name, and so forth. However, in the case of vishing, the information is collected over the phone, via your voice, rather than via the Internet.

How Do Vishers Get You to Share Information?

Your first thought might be, "of course I'd never share my personal information over the phone!" And maybe this is true. Hopefully, this is true. However, vishers have been known to be incredibly convincing and manipulative. They use some surprising tactics to convince their victims to share their bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, and other vital information.

Here are a few tactics they may use:

Pretending To Be the Government

Sometimes a visher may call you insisting they are from the IRS and explaining that you owe back taxes. They may tell you that if you don't settle your account immediately, you'll face jail time or huge fines. Of course, if you just give them your bank information, they'll take care of things for you right away. Except, they won't—they'll just steal your money.

Posing as Your Bank

Vishers may call and tell you they're from your bank. They may say they need your account information to re-activate your account and explain that if you don't give it to them, your account will be closed. In a panic, people sometimes fall for it. Real banks never make calls like this.

Acting Like the Police

Vishers may also call and explain that they are the police. They may insist someone you know and love is in trouble and needs money to either bail them out of jail or pay a lawyer. They get you to share your bank information, and before you know it, your accounts are empty.

Avoiding Vishing Attempts

Now that you're aware of the most common vishing attempts, you should be better equipped to avoid them. Here are a few more specific ways to keep yourself safe from these sneaky phone phishing scams.

1. Never give your banking or personal information to someone over the phone. If you suspect the call may be real, hang up, and call the organization back, using their official phone number. (Don't just call back the number that the visher called from.)
2. Don't fall for a scheme just because the caller knows information like your address or place of employment. Vishers often research their victims to learn this information.
3. Simply do not pick up the phone if you get a call from a number you don't recognize. If the call is real and important, the caller will leave a message. Vishers rarely leave messages.

Now that you have a better understanding of these vishing, or phone phishing scams, share what you've learned with others. These scammers are really sneaky and convincing, and they've swindled people of all ages out of their hard-earned money. You don't have to be next.