EPPICard Vishing
NEW YORK (OCN) — Vishing is the criminal practice of using social engineering and Voice over IP (VoIP) to gain access to private personal and financial information from the public for the purpose of financial reward.
The term is a combination of “voice” and phishing. Vishing exploits the public’s trust in landline telephone services, which have traditionally terminated in physical locations which are known to the telephone company, and associated with a bill-payer.
The victim is often unaware that VoIP allows for caller ID spoofing, inexpensive, complex automated systems and anonymity for the bill-payer. Vishing is typically used to steal credit card numbers or other information used in identity theft schemes from individuals.
Also, vishing is very hard for legal authorities to monitor or trace. To protect yourself, consumers are advised to be highly suspicious when receiving messages directing them to call and provide credit card or bank numbers. Rather than provide any information, the consumer is advised to contact their bank or credit card company directly to verify the validity of the message.
Below is a message from EPPICard
Please be aware that there are current reports of phishing emails, phone text messages, and vishing phone calls, intended to obtain personal and/or card information. Phishing and vishing are types of scams designed to steal your personal information. We will never request your personal information such as social security number, card number or PIN through any of these methods. Please do not respond to requests like these. Being informed is your best defense. See the Protect Yourself link for ways of avoiding identity theft. If you believe your card account has been compromised, please call the number on the back of the card.
So what should you do? You can report it to IC3 and also contact us so we can post it here on the site as well to help others searching the net just as you have. Also if you are a card holder, you should contact Customer Service toll free at 1-800-656-1347 and visit their Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft and Phishing page.