CONTACT

Katie Carrol
Director of Communications and Marketing
Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado
Telephone: 719/636-5076 Ext. 118
Fax: 719/636-5078
Email: katiec@bbbsc.org

A new fraud called “Vishing,” has emerged in the past month. People are phoned at random by an automated telephone system and informed that their credit card has been used illegally. This is a spin-off of a fraud called “Phishing,” whereby a con artist sends an e-mail to a potential victim pretending to represent someone else.

Victims are told to dial a fake 800 number, which connects them to a service requesting the victim provide their credit card number information or bank account number. The criminals are free to use this information in any way they choose.

This is one of the most advanced scams because it uses something called VoIP, which stand for, voice over internet protocol. VoIP technology allows con artists to disguise his/her phone number, leading victims to believe the phone call is from a legitimate financial institution.

The Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado strongly recommends that consumers do not give out any financial information by phone or e-mail unless the consumer initiates the transaction with the organization or business.