Voice phishing
Now however, vishing fraudsters often use modern Voice over IP (VoIP) features such as caller ID spoofing and automated systems (IVR) to impede detection by law enforcement agencies.
[3][4] Scammers often target immigrants and the elderly,[5] who are coerced to wire hundreds to thousands of dollars in response to threats of arrest or deportation.
[16] A scammer may directly call a victim and pretend to be a trustworthy person by spoofing their caller ID, appearing on the phone as an official or someone nearby.
[16] Voice phishing attackers will often employ social engineering to convince victims to give them money and/or access to personal data.
[16] Voice phishing attacks can be difficult for victims to identify because legitimate institutions such as banks sometimes ask for sensitive personal information over the phone.
[citation needed] Additionally, victims, particularly the elderly,[8] may forget or not know about scammers' ability to modify their caller ID, making them more vulnerable to voice phishing attacks.
[citation needed] The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggests several ways for the average consumer to detect phone scams.
The primary strategy recommended by the FTC to avoid falling victim to voice phishing is to not answer calls from unknown numbers.
Recent research has attempted to make accurate distinctions between legitimate calls and phishing attacks using artificial intelligence and data analysis.
Additionally, various law enforcement agencies are continually making efforts to discourage scammers from conducting phishing calls by imposing harsher penalties upon attackers.
[31][29] Between 2012 and 2016, a voice phishing scam ring posed as Internal Revenue Service and immigration employees to more than 50,000 individuals, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars as well as victims' personal information.
[5] On March 28, 2021, the Federal Communications Commission issued a statement warning Americans of the rising number of phone scams regarding fraudulent COVID-19 products.
[34] Voice phishing schemes attempting to sell products which putatively "prevent, treat, mitigate, diagnose or cure" COVID-19 have been monitored by the Food and Drug Administration as well.
[35] Beginning in 2015, a phishing scammer impersonated Hollywood make-up artists and powerful female executives to coerce victims to travel to Indonesia and pay sums of money under the premise that they'll be reimbursed.
After the Iran-expert academic mentioned connections within Iran on Israeli Army Radio, Thamar received a phone call to request an interview with the professor for the Persian BBC.
