From [PC World]

With consumers finally getting wise to phishing attacks, scammers are hitting the phones.

 

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) warned Thursday that so-called “vishing” attacks are on the rise. These are scams where criminals send an e-mail or text message to a victim, saying there has been a security problem and the victim needs to call his or her bank to reactivate a credit or debit card.

“Upon calling the telephone number, the recipient is greeted with ‘Welcome to the bank of …’ and then [is] requested to enter their card number in order to resolve a pending security issue,” the IC3 said in its alert.

In the past few years, inexpensive VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology and open-source call-center software has made it inexpensive for scammers to set up phony call centers, paving the way for these new types of scams. Security experts say that vishing can be more effective than traditional phishing techniques — which direct victims to fake Web sites — because the voice-based attacks have not been as widely publicized.

A new vishing scam involves sending text messages to cell phones, instructing victims to contact the fake online bank to renew their accounts, the IC3 said.

As for the non tech savvy user, this is something to watch out for. Even if it says you won a million dollars, do not be temped to respond to their message. The best thing to do is to ignore these kind of messages, and if necessary, report to the correct authorities. Remember that these guys will be happy if they get one response, because then, they would have access to a vast amount of money and private information. Don’t Let that person be you.