A phone scam is growing, called ‘vishing’, in which fraudsters are targeting people to deceive them into revealing personal and financial information – or make payments into the fraudster’s account.
Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) reports that it has seen an overall increase of £36m across remote banking and remote purchase (telephone and online), account take-over, and application fraud in the last financial year. Early estimates indicate that at least £7m worth may be attributed to the scam.
FFA is suggesting that one in 25 adults in the UK may have been a victim of ‘Vishing’, with 43 per cent of those victims aged over 50. Almost a quarter of people in the UK (23 per cent) have received a cold call requesting personal or financial information, potentially putting them at risk of becoming a victim of Vishing. Four in ten people (39 per cent) admitted they found it challenging to tell the difference between a genuine and fraudulent call. Almost a third (30 per cent) of the UK population received at least 10 cold calls per month, with 41 per cent suspecting that a call was fraudulent or suspicious. However, when it came to those aged over 50, this group were shown to be particularly at risk, with almost half (47 per cent) having received a fraudulent or suspicious cold call.
Vishing involves a fraudster making a phone call to a potential victim, posing as someone from a bank or building society fraud investigation team, the police or another legitimate organisation such as a telephone or internet provider. They attempt to obtain financial information which often includes credit/debit card details (including PIN), bank account details and personal information such as full name, date of birth or address. This information is then used by the fraudster to gain access to their victim’s finances. Fraudsters can also deceive the victim into transferring money themselves from their own bank account to one which is accessible to the fraudster. A variation on this scam involves the victim being persuaded to withdraw money from a branch or ATM to pay the fraudster.
DCI Dave Carter, Head of the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU), a pro-active police unit that is fully sponsored by the cards and banking industries said: “Fraudsters can use personal information gleaned from vishing in a number of ways including to access a victim’s bank account, make fraudulent purchases and commit identity theft.”
