Have you ever heard of Vishing? You've probably encountered a situation like this before: Imagine you're accessing a website and suddenly a notification pops up warning you that your computer or device is infected and the problem needs to be resolved. Usually, this link comes with a phone number so you can contact the company responsible to solve the problem.
Let's say you make a call and are answered by a supposed technician who, for a certain fee, offers you the best solution to your problem. That's what this threat consists of. One of the strategies of vishing is to offer supposed antivirus software in exchange for a certain amount of money, most often requiring you to provide your credit card details.
The reality is that this software doesn't work, and the credit card information you provided to pay the fee is used to perpetrate more substantial financial scams (in addition to the payment for the supposed software itself).
Technological advancements have been very beneficial to society, bringing innovations that greatly facilitate our daily lives and optimize tasks that were previously considered complex. However, this progress has also brought several threats that can cause significant harm to individuals and organizations.
Phone scams have been around since the advent of phone technology, and over the years criminals have developed increasingly efficient traps to deceive their victims . One strategy that became very famous was the fake kidnapping scam, which victimized many people and had a major impact on their lives. To make these threats even more effective, cybercriminals began using social engineering to strengthen their narrative and make victims place even more trust in what is being presented as truth. Understand how social engineering can be applied to cyber scams:
Threats that reach us through phone calls are known as vishing and are equally dangerous, potentially causing many problems for their victims, from the leakage of personal information to major financial fraud for businesses.
Vishing scam: how does it work?
The Vishing scam works as follows: through a phone call, criminals try to trick their victims into providing valuable information, such as personal data, address, credit card details, and more.
To make this possible, during the call they use strategies and tools to deceive their victims (such as social engineering) and make them believe that it is a legitimate and secure contact. Currently, this type of scam is being used more frequently to steal credit card information or identification documents.
Since people are more prepared than they were a few years ago, in order for this scam to be more effective and deliver the results the scammer expects, there is a technique called War Dialing , which scans a list of phone numbers and makes quick dials of these contacts so that, faced with a large number of calls , it can capture a victim.
With the advancement of the internet and digital transformation, this type of scam has also begun to be used with Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) . This type of telephone service works exclusively through the internet, and many cybercriminals are using this tool to hide their real identity and create more and more victims.
Vishing vs. Phishing vs. Smishing: Understand the difference
Because vishing uses certain strategies to deceive its victims, many people confuse it with other scams, such as phishing and smishing. To determine the difference, we need to know which channel each uses to reach its victims .
Phishing is a cyberattack strategy aimed at tricking users into clicking on malicious links and files sent via email. It's one of the most dangerous internet threats, mainly because unsuspecting users don't realize the risks involved in clicking these links or downloading files.
This link typically requests login information, full names, personal documents, and credit card details.
Smishing, on the other hand, refers to a fraud that reaches users through SMS services. The text of the received message usually contains a malicious link whose purpose is to steal information. Both vishing and smishing are threats derived from phishing , differing only in the channel used to reach users.
Vishing can be carried out through real calls or robocalls, which are programmed to reach an ever-increasing number of victims. With over 2.47 billion calls recorded by Anatel (Brazil's telecommunications regulatory agency) , these automated calls already represent more than half of all calls made in Brazil, demonstrating the magnitude of the risk they pose to users and businesses.
This type of scam typically involves calls offering irresistible promotions, solutions to technical problems, discount packages, extended warranties, and much more. The next step is to request your full name, home and business addresses, ID number, CPF (Brazilian tax ID), driver's license, financial information, etc. With this information in hand, they can carry out numerous types of scams , even opening accounts and taking out loans from financial institutions.
Knowing how to recognize them is essential: identifying the vishing scam.
Knowing how to recognize the main threats on the internet is the first step in protecting yourself from the harm they can cause. The first step is to never provide personal information through links, forms, or phone calls unless that contact was initiated by you.
If any company contacts you, such as government organizations, financial institutions, or companies you have previously dealt with, providing information about outstanding debts or offering promotions, end the call and call back to verify the legitimacy of the contact.
It is important that this contact be made in an extremely careful manner, using the contact numbers available on the company's official website. This is because cybercriminals, targeting less attentive users, plant fake phone numbers on the internet on websites without credibility , leading many users to believe that it is the number of the company they wish to contact.
Also, avoid answering calls or replying to SMS messages from contacts and numbers you don't recognize. To help you understand the risk, did you know that even answering calls to say you no longer want to receive this type of contact is discouraged? This is because this behavior provides cybercriminals with very valuable information: that the number is legitimate, active, and that you can be contacted in other ways.
The reality is that, with so many threats surrounding our daily lives, it's important to always be suspicious of everything.
It is important to prepare in order to ensure safety.
As we've seen throughout this material, vishing can be a very dangerous threat to our data, and risky behavior within a company can cause considerable damage. Receiving this type of contact can, in addition to impacting productivity, cause immense losses for the business.
Falling for this type of scam can lead to both the leakage of information that can harm the brand's market positioning and credibility , and financial scams that can be perpetrated using the provided data, such as financial fraud and extortion.
Lumiun offers comprehensive tools designed to make your company's daily operations safer and more efficient . With resources focused on the your business data , we have exactly what your company needs to maintain data protection and ensure your employees stay safe from online problems.
