What is Vishing? How To Identify Phone Scams 2023

As a certified clinical social worker Jaime Bardacke was used to receiving occasional messages from police regarding instances in which she was referred to in the capacity of an expert witness.

When the person at the other end of the line said he was Lt. Timothy Reid and told that a warrant was in place for her arrest due to inadmissibility Bardacke immediately agreed to make the $6,000 bail in order to avoid trouble until they could figure the issue out 

It wasn’t until later that she realized that the whole phone call was fraudulent.

The number of phone scams — called “vishing” -has exploded. According to a survey conducted in 2022 of the time, an average American receives 31 calls from spammers (and 20 text messages from spammers) per month“

While some scammers employ robot calls to contact thousands of victims every day in the hope that some of them be lured into their traps other scammers employ more sophisticated techniques.

Modern phone scammers employ human psychological tricks to trigger victims’ stress response and cloud their judgement. Scammers disguise themselves as police, credit department or even their own Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to make you feel frightened into giving the money or sending confidential data.

In this article we’ll go over how modern vishing scams work, the best way to recognize them, and what are the most prevalent phone scams you must avoid, so for you as well as your family members can remain secure.

How To Identify a Vishing Scam

1. You receive a strange phone call from a person who claims to be from an agency of the government or financial institution, or a well-known company.
2. The person calling you asks you to verify personal data like you Social Security number, bank account number as well as your credit card’s number.
3. They might claim that you’re having problems or there’s an issue in your account, and request that you take action immediately to fix the problem.
4. Finding the root of the issue might require quick cash transfer to claim an award or avoid the repercussions of a fine. It’s not uncommon for fraudsters to solicit payments through Zelle or even gift cards that are bulky.
5. In other instances it is possible that the caller will ask for you to install a application or click on the link, which may create spyware on your system.
6. The caller creates a feeling of urgency, calling you to take action immediately without taking time to contemplate the caller’s request.
7. The caller may become violent or threatens you if you are not able to adhere to their demands.
8. Vishing calls also employ methods of high-pressure, such as threats to deactivate the validity of your SSN or even detain or even deport you.
9. The person calling has a foreign accent , or is speaking in low English this could indicate that they’re not the person they claim to be.
10. The number or caller ID appears be fake or fake.

If you spot any of these indicators be sure to not divulge personal information or make any payments via phone. Instead, leave the phone and call the business or the government agency directly by dialing an address you are confident.

Scams on the phone target innocent individuals with offers or threats that are designed to steal cash or personal information.

Here’s a review of the most popular phone scams and the best ways to stay clear of these scams:

7. Tax and IRS frauds

This kind of scam is based on the stress of a victim when dealing with tax issues as well as the IRS. The scammer may contact you or leave a message saying that you owe taxes. They often make use of threats of jail or arrest to convince you to take action fast and pay them via wire transfers, cryptocurrency and gift card.

How can you identify if the person calling you is a scammer

• Someone contacts you pretending to be from someone from the IRS. The IRS seldom calls taxpayers via telephone.
• The caller threatens being in jail or even arrested. The IRS doesn’t make threats.
• The caller will only accept payment with a particular payment method, such as bank transfer, gift card or wire. The IRS accepts many payment options and does not request cards numbers via phone

10. Scams involving fake prizes and sweepstakes

The most frequent scam technique is to make it appear that you’ve won something. If you believe you’re lucky enough to win They’ll then ask for an amount to get the prize. It’s easy to tell if it’s a scam as the idea of charging for a sweepstakes is prohibited by the federal laws and that’s the reason all legitimate contests state “no purchase required.”

How to determine whether the caller is a fraud:

• The person who calls claims that they’ve won an award or a lottery that you didn’t apply for.
• It is stated that you have to buy something or pay money in order to get the reward.

11. “One-ring” callback fraud

Like the name implies, the scam that starts with one ring begins with a phone call which rings one time and then the caller hangs up. The intention of the scammer is to convince customers to call to call back. It will charge as a premium call, with charges as high as $20 per call as well as 9 cents per minute.

How can you identify if the person calling you is a scammer

• You receive a missed-call notice, but the phone only rang one time or you didn’t even hear it in any way.
• The phone number is preceded by the symbol of a plus meaning it’s an international phone number. For instance, +(232) looks like it’s a U.S. area code, however it’s actually directed the caller to Sierra Leone.