Snippet: Clever Voice Phishing Scams ☇

Brian Krebs:

Phone phishing, like email scams, usually invokes an element of urgency in a bid to get people to let their guard down. If call has you worried that there might be something wrong and you wish to call them back, don’t call the number offered to you by the caller. If you want to reach your bank, call the number on the back of your card. If it’s another company you do business with, go to the company’s site and look up their main customer support number.

Unfortunately, this may take a little work. It’s not just banks and phone companies that are being impersonated by fraudsters. Reports on social media suggest many consumers also are receiving voice phishing scams that spoof customer support numbers at Apple, Amazon and other big-name tech companies. In many cases, the scammers are polluting top search engine results with phony 800-numbers for customer support lines that lead directly to fraudsters.

Caller ID is easy to spoof and with bits of information floating around from data breaches, it’s easy to get enough bits of data to sound convincing. Basically, just don’t trust incoming phone calls unless it’s someone you know personally. If it’s someone claiming to be your bank, credit union, credit card issuer, phone carrier, or favorite tech company, call the main customer service number—they’ll understand.