Vishing is a new term for the phone scams that have existed for decades. Hackers have combined this age old technique to trick users into revealing financial details with the newer technique of VoIP. VoIP makes it very tough for the authorities to detect the location of the hackers. The term vishing comes from voice + phishing that equals vishing.
A different kind of phishing scam, vishing is seeing another uproar and the stats are very shocking. There is a need for security concern protection in order to protect users from such scams. The stats that have been discovered include the amount of damage that vishing caused in 2020.
- About 39% users were fooled into revealing financial details since the scammers had a pretty good idea about the personal details of the victim.
- Another stat reveals that 75% of victims confirmed that the scammer knew their social security number.
All these techniques in which the hackers know a lot of sensitive details about the victims is concerning. Having said that, there are certain things that every person should follow in order to protect them from vishing attacks. Have a look.
- Remember, a lot of people who fell to vishing reported that scammers called them under the disguise of a charity raising organization seeking donations. So, no matter how genuine someone on the other side of the phone sounds, never reveal any financial detail of yours. Not even your account number.
- The second most frequently used technique is where scammers pretend they’re calling from your bank. What you need to know and remember is, no bank will ever ask for sensitive details like OTP or your account password. Such calls come from people who are trying to steal your money.
- Last, scammers also pretend to be calling under the disguise of a business that the victims know. So, no matter if you think you’re revealing your details to a trusted business, it could be a scammer. Instead of revealing the info, what’s better is that you make a personal call for confirmation.
Now that you know what vishing is, there’s also a need to take you through some other forms of phishing techniques that are causing equal amounts of damage. The 3 that you need to know are, spear phishing, credential stuffing, and malware attacks. They’re carried out on the internet, but the technique is the same as vishing – fooling users somehow by convincing them that they’re sharing their details with someone genuine.
On a closing note, you need to be aware when answering calls that require you to reveal any financial detail of yours and the same holds true for all other forms of phishing. Being aware is the only way to reduce the chances of getting conned.
