FBI Announces New Scam Using Internet Telephone Technology

The FBI announced Friday criminals are using one of the newest technologies, Voice Over Internet Protocol or VolP, which enables phone calls to be made online, to steal money and identities. The new scam by crooks has been named "vishing," which is similar to the better known Internet scam, phishing.

With phishing, someone gets an email that claims to be from a bank or credit card company. Those who get the email are asked to update their account information and passwords. The email mail makes a claim that is necessary because of illegal activity. The recipient is given an email link that appears to take anyone who clicks on it to a legitimate website. The website actually, however, is an illegal identity theft collection system.

The new Internet telephone technology scam, vishing, is similar, and the goal is the same-to take your money or identity. With one scam, you will get a typical e-mail, like with a phishing scam. Instead of being given an email link, however, you will be directed to a "customer service" phone number to call using your VolP account. The number will not be to a real financial institution, although you may be told it is. You will be directed through a series of voice prompted menus that will ask for your account numbers, passwords, and other information.

In another scam designed to steal your money, you will actually be called from someone using the Internet telephone technology. You could be talking to a live person or hear a recorded message. The criminal will already have your account number or credit card number, and is trying to give you a false sense of security.

Vishing has advantages over traditional phishing scams. VolP service is inexpensive. Also, because it is web-based, criminals will be able to use software to create phony automated customer service lines.

You may wrongly think that because the criminals are giving out their phone numbers, it will be easy to track those using the Internet telephone technology. That is not true. Criminals can mask their numbers, foiling caller ID. The VolP technology may actually belong to an honest person, whose service is being hacked.

The FBI says it is hard to know how prevalent vishing is, because a lot of victims report it as SPAM or phishing.

The FBI says to be wary of anyone calling you using Internet telephone technology from someone seeking information or of emails that want the same kind of information. To be certain whether someone wanting information is legitimate, hang up and call the customer service number where you originally obtained the account.