Vishing appears as new scam

RATHER THAN relying on emails to obtain bank details as in phishing, a new variant has stated to appear known as 'vishing'. This relies on and inherent capability of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony to provide local telephone banks.

A classic attack targeted customers of the Santa Barbara Bank and Trust in California. They received an email requesting a call be made to an apparently local telephone number.

According to Internet security specialists, Websense, customers who responded heard a recorded message asking them to enter their account details.

Any Internet telephony service, including Skype, has the capability to provide a telephone number that appears to be based elsewhere. So a British business could boast a London dial-in number even if it is based in Plymouth, for example.

So it wouldn't be hard to obtain a VoIP number that looked like it was in Santa Monica. British security expert, Sophos, reported a similar vishing attack asking for details of recipients'' Paypal account. µ

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Websense

Sophos