Introduction

Vishing is a type of identity theft scam which uses easy-to-obtain voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone numbers to trick people into giving personal information, such as bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, and credit card numbers over the phone.

Vishing attacks provide a toll-free telephone number for the recipient to contact for assistance with their banking or credit card account. This number is typically sent to the user through an email or an automated phone call. When the user calls this number, an automated telephone attendant will request personal data, such as your ATM/debit account numbers, PIN, and Social Security number. If you have any concerns regarding the legitimacy of a phone number, contact your bank or credit card agency using the number listed on your statement or credit card.

IT Help Central recommends that you disregard any messages of this type and not call any numbers mentioned in these emails or phone messages.

Recommendations

• Never give out personal information, such as bank or credit card numbers, to untrusted or unknown sources.
• If anyone purporting to be a credit card provider calls and requests your card number, hang up and call the phone number on the back of the credit card. If the call was legitimate, the credit card provider will have knowledge of it.
• Do not open email attachments from people you do not know or unsolicited attachments.
• If you receive a suspicious email, do not open it. Please contact IT Help Central if an email is questionable.
• Keep your operating systems and software up to date.
• Install anti-virus/anti-malware on your computer and perform full system scans at least once a week.
• Keep anti-virus software up to date.
• You may choose to block individual numbers in TTU Unified Communications. Please be aware that if you block a number that was spoofed, you will also be blocking future calls that may legitimately come from that number.

Outcome

IT Help Central recommends that you disregard any messages of this type and not call any numbers mentioned in these emails or phone messages.