Protecting Parents against Vishing (voice phishing)

As our parents start using more technology such as mobile banking, I wanted to highlight some very common scams that they may fall prey to. Recently, my parents who I consider somewhat tech savvy lost ~$3000 (2 lakh Indian Rupees) to such a scam, even though they have been careful and are aware of some of the common vishing patterns. While we don’t believe we will get the money back, I have compiled a simple list for ‘Voice Phishing’ frauds that involve human interaction. Hopefully it helps spread some awareness!

The fraudsters would commonly:

• Pretend to be a tenant interested in renting your property
• Pretend to be a potential buyer of stuff you posted online for sale
• Pretend to be from an online marketplace — flipkart, amazon etc. Always check for the authenticity of the phone number
• Pretend to be from a bank / loan agency. Banks do not ask you for personal details such as email, password, ATM PINs, credit card CVV.
• Pretend to be from a good background (army, doctor, etc) and could even share stolen ID cards
• Pretend to be a seller but wants your money first and cannot be physically present for the transaction

Behaviors:

• Asking for an OTP sent to your phone. NEVER share it.
• Ask for your credit card CVV, passwords, PINs. NEVER share this detail with anyone.