Clever New Twist In Phone Phishing

A variation on the now common phishing scam, dubbed “vishing,” has until recently had a predictable modus operandi, beginning with a bogus phone call from what seems to be a familiar and plausible source, like a bank – a perfect setup to garner the trust of somebody who is about to get stripped. The caller, who already has some information about the victim, uses that information to pry out some more (including the increasingly valuable voiceprint). Now a new variation, called “reverse vishing,” has begun to surface. It’s a kind of hybrid scheme that starts by contriving to get false information pushed to the top of search results. This becomes step one in getting victims, all the more complacent, to initiate the call themselves.