FBI warns ‘vishing’ attacks increase

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said ‘vishing’ attacks against US financial institutions and consumers continue to rise at an alarming rate.

‘Vishing’ is a scheme involving e-mail, text message, or telephone calls, supposedly from credit card/debit card companies requesting a telephone number to re-activate your card due to a security issue.

Vishing operates like phishing by persuading consumers to divulge their personally identifiable information (PII), claiming their account was suspended, deactivated, or terminated. Recipients are directed to contact their bank via a telephone number provided in the e-mail or by an automated recording. Upon calling the telephone number, the recipient is greeted with "Welcome to the bank of ……" and then requested to enter their card number in order to resolve a pending security issue.

“Vishing’ is a scheme involving e-mail, text message, or telephone calls, supposedly from credit card/debit card companies requesting a telephone number to re-activate your card due to a security issue.

For authenticity, some fraudulent e-mails claim the bank would never contact customers to obtain their PII by any means, including e-mail, mail, or instant messenger.

A new version recently reported involves the sending of text messages to cell phones claiming the recipient's on-line bank account has expired. The message instructs the recipient to renew their on-line bank account by using the link provided.