Phone Phishing?
Sometimes I have a suspicious mind.
Got a phone call early today. A recorded voice said they had detected suspicious activity on my credit card, and asked me to call an 800 number to confirm or deny those transactions.
But I wondered: how do I know this call is really from the bank that issued my credit card? How do I know the 800 number is legit? The whole thing reminds me too much of phishing, which has become familiar in email, but seems new over the phone.
I mention this here because this may be an early sign of a new trend in fraud, and it’s good to be alert to these things.
Update: There is a new scam called “vishing” — phishing by voice. From USA Today:
The upshot: “If you get a telephone call where someone is asking you to provide or confirm any of your personal information, immediately hang up and call your financial institution with the number on the back of the card,” said Paul Henry, a vice president with Secure Computing Corp. “If it was a real issue, they can address the issue.”