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Vishing scams are similar to phishing scams in that criminals use these scams to attempt to steal personal and bank account information from unsuspecting individuals. A vishing scam uses VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), a technology that allows phone calls to be made and received over the internet. A scammer doing vishing will either send out e-mails that mimic your bank or credit card company's website and e-mails or set up an automated calling system that will call your home and sound like it is coming from your bank or credit card company.

With e-mail vishing, the scammer includes a telephone number to call back. The e-mail usually says something about needing to confirm your account, updating information, or concerns about activity on your account. If a person calls the number, they reach an automated menu that sounds identical to their bank or credit card company's phone system. Through various prompts, the person will be asked to enter in personal and account information. In some cases a live person posing as a bank or credit card employee will answer the call.

With phone vishing, the scammer simply generates automated messages that sound legitimate. People will receive these calls that include a call back number. When they call the provided number back, they hear a similar setup as the numbers given in vishing e-mails.

Financial institutions and any sites that require account information will never ask you to call them or e-mail them your personal information or account numbers. Vishing is becoming popular because it is easy to mask or hide VoIP numbers making them hard to trace. Complicating matters, many scammers will hack a person's VoIP service and use that number for their vishing scams.

If you receive an e-mail or phone message from your bank, credit card company, or another company that you have accounts with, never call the number provided and never reply with any account information. Always call the institution (with a number that you know is legitimate) in question as soon as possible to verify if the e-mail or phone call is real. If it is not, you can report it to the bank who will then work with authorities to determine the source of the scam.

You can easily avoid phishing and vishing scams by remembering that banks and credit card companies will never ask you to call a number or reply to an e-mail with account information. They also won't call you and ask for this information. If a link in an e-mail looks different or suspicious, never use that link to log in to your accounts as the link is likely a fake. Keep safe and avoid vishing scams by keeping this information in mind.

Learn more about this author, Maxwell Payne.
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