As it is currently tax season in the United States now seems like a good time to cover a scam called Vishing a.k.a “Voice Phishing”. You might be wondering what exactly is Vishing, well, essentially Vishing is when scammers attempt to gather information for further social engineering attacks, or they attempt to scam the person they are calling into giving them money. These scams are unfortunately widespread and target people of all ages. For example, in Birmingham Alabama, there were news articles on people who were impersonating the local Birmingham police department. In this article, I will show you how these scammers operate, some red flags to look out for, and how you can avoid being a victim of a Vishing campaign.
These scammers rely on two aspects when it comes to scamming people. First, the scammers will act on urgency in an attempt to get you, the victim, to give them money or sensitive information. One example of urgency is someone who is claiming to be calling from the IRS and telling you that you owe taxes and if you do not pay up you will unfortunately face severe consequences. Essentially, the scammer is trying to put fear into you so that you will listen to the scammer and do what they wish. Second,
It might not be an easy task to avoid Vishing attempts. Unfortunately, the scammers who conduct Vishing can spoof their phone numbers to resemble any entity with enough effort. However, these are the specific tips that we recommend to avoid being a victim of Vishing.
First, remain calm, the scammer will attempt to pressure you almost immediately by claiming to be an authority figure and along with urgency, however, you need to remain calm so that you can think carefully.
Second, hang up, if the person is leading towards demanding money or information then hang up on them. You can either call the agency that they are claiming to be or visit them and verify if the information is correct.
We hope that this blog post has been educational on the rising trend of Vishing scam attempts. As we are in the middle of the tax season it is even more crucial to be wary and careful about phone calls from scammers as many will attempt to portray themselves as the IRS and claim that you have not paid your taxes.