Vishing Credit Card Scam
First is was phishing, and now it is vishing. Credit card scams are everywhere it seems. This newest one is cunning, to be sure. Here is how it works.
You get an email that reads something like: Please be aware that your VISA card has been disabled and you will not be able to use the card. This is a security measure made by your bank.
The email then instructs you to call a toll free telephone number to get your card activated again. When you call the number you are instructed to enter your credit card number. The problem is the card was never shut down in the first place and the number called is not to the bank or other institution but rather to a crook who now has the information needed to use the card.
These types of emails represent just one of the latest methods in computer-based scams known as “vishing”, short for voice phishing.
The main difference between the two is the phishing operations want you to visit a website while vishing uses the telephone to get your personal information. Either way, consumers are losing millions of dollars each year to these scams.
Vishing started showing up once it became clear that consumers were getting wise to crooked website scams. For some reason, consumers often feel more secure punching in their data over the phone than doing so at websites. Computer crime experts, like Capt. Jack Prindle of the Boone County Sherriff’s Department, say consumers aren’t as wary of entering credit card information into a telephone keypad.
“The bad guys needed a different wrinkle, so now the bad guys get you to call a machine,” Prindle said. “For people with a phobia about giving their credit card information on the Internet, this allows them to make contact with them and steal their credit card information.”
Experts say some vishing scams are bold enough to call the consumer at home or work with the scam. Some vishers have become so good at it that they can mask their location to mislead caller ID systems and even display the name of a financial institution on the caller ID panel.