Mobile Phone Phishing – Have You Armed Yourself against Phishers?

“Hello, Mr.Smith! I’m calling from ABC Bank. Do you have a Visa Card? We have received reports that someone may be fraudulently charging purchases on your credit card. I need to verify your card number along with its expiry date. OK, tell me the CVV number on the backside……”

Besides all other phishing methods, Phone Phishing is a popular way used by phishers to hunt for personal/financial information of their targets. Posing as employers, company representatives, banking officials, like in the above telephonic conversation, these attackers make fool of people for their own benefit.

In some cases, people are asked to dial certain numbers in order to resolve problems with their bank accounts. Upon dialling, users are being told to enter their bank account number and PIN. While such a call is supported by VOIP, users believe that the call is from a legitimate source.

However, such instances of sharing personal information over phone lead to cases of fraudulent transactions causing huge loss to the account owner. It, therefore, becomes quite important to gear up against such criminal practices by implementing effective cybersecurity methods.

Let’s take a look:

• Whenever you receive any call from someone claiming to be from a regulatory authority asking for your sensitive details, simply ask them to call after some time. After that, immediately go to the official website of the regulatory authority and call on the given phone number to check whether such a call has been generated from their end or not.

• In case you have shared your sensitive credentials like credit card PIN or net banking details with someone and feel that something is phishy afterwards, do not panic. Immediately, give a call to the concerned officials such as bank authorities and explain them your situation. Blocking your credit card or net banking is the best possible solution in such cases.

• Whenever using your mobile for online transactions, make sure to check the URL of the website as phishing websites with similar looking URLs can cause a big loss to your privacy. Install an anti-phishing software on your mobile to ensure safety from phishing scams.

• While filling out any form on a website, keep a check whether only the required or logical information is being asked. Phishing websites have forms that ask you for your private information.

Tell us if you have received phishing calls from someone ever? How did you tackle it? Also, have a look at our blog post on Different Types of Phishing Attacks.