Ok, I'll be the first to admit, I didn't know much about this tech stuff. I'm the kind of guy that doesn't know to use his cell phone, but that's why this story was assigned to me. I was asked to do my own research and explain "SMiShing" and "Vishing." If this is over your head already, please keep reading. I wrote this with people like me in mind. When my editor started throwing these terms around, all I could think of was that they sounded like the kinds of web sites my teenage son gets grounded for reading.
A brief history for the rest of us
In the old days, criminals used to engage what they called “phreaking” which was using tricks to make free calls from payphones. During the 90’s, these guys expanded into “phishing,” which is either emailing or cold calling unsuspecting folks in order to steal their private information, like credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other things in order to commit theft or fraud.
Still with me?
In the last few years, there’s been a lot of even newer communication technology that many, if not most people are adapting into their daily lives, and with that, come the crooks. “Phishing” continues to grow, but nowadays, it’s branching out into “SMiShing,” which is using text messages on cell phones to steal you information, and “Vishing” which is using Voice over IP (VOIP) services such as Skype to do it.
SMiShing
SMiShing comes from a portmanteau of SMS (Short Message Service), the text messages people send on cell phones, and phishing. What crooks do, is send a message to tons of users, pretending to be a bank, often with a message that an account has been suspended or something else to make people antsy. Then they either have a web address, or more recently a phone number to call.
The website will be a phony version of a popular bank, like Bank of America, and it will prompt you for your username, password, credit card number, social security and other things to “verify” you. Then they’ve got your information and will make a counterfeit copy of your credit or ATM card and go use it before you report it.
If it’s a phone number, it will be a recording of your “bank,” that will sound absolutely legit, asking you to press numbers to respond. It works the same way as the web ones, except that it asks you to punch the numbers in on your phone dial, asking you for personal information it needs to “verify,” when in reality it’s a shop designed to steal your credit card information and max it out before you notice.
Bottom Line:
If you get an SMS message on your phone, and it ISN’T from someone you know, don’t respond to it. While it is VERY unlikely that they would use SMS to tell you something urgent, if you are concerned that it might really be a message from your bank, you should call the number on your checkbook or credit card, NOT the one send to your phone.
Vishing
“Vishing is an even newer method of “phishing” with new technology. The way Vishing usually works is the criminal in question is using what it called Voice over IP (VOIP). Voice Over IP is a very useful technology that lets people make phone calls from their computers, linking the Internet with the regular phone system. It also lets people get an old-fashioned landline number for these Internet phones. This is great for international businesses and people who travel, since they can buy a London number (or any number they want to) from a service like Vonnage or Skype if they do business in that country, even if they live in New York.
But this is also a popular thing to use now, for fraud, and the crooks can also spoof the caller ID as well, making them appear to be from anywhere they want to. It usually won’t be a live person who calls you, though.
They use what is called a “war dialer” that might have a full range of hundreds or even thousands of phone numbers. When you pick up the line, what you hear on the other end is a computerized voice talking, giving you the same lines. They’ll say your account is overdrawn, or your card has been suspended, or something else to get you nervous.
As in the case of SMiShing, the computer on the other end will prompt you for “security verification” to punch in to the phone, like your birth date, social security number or your bank account number.
Bottom line:
Vishing is definitely on the rise, and is designed to prey upon older Americans, who, like me, aren’t so up to date on technology. Part of the whole trick of vishing is to give a sense of confidence precisely because it doesn’t seem like a high tech gimmick. After all, the robo-caller is calling your home phone and while it’s irritating, it doesn’t seem so ring the alarm bells it should since we are so used to telemarketers and politicians at election time using “robo-calls.”
Don’t fall for it, folks. Call me old fashioned, but I suggest just hanging up the phone and ignoring these calls. You can always contact your bank or credit card issuer if you are worried at all about your account.
