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Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever

krebsonsecurity.com

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Re: Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever

#11

Post by joezydeco »

tvanantwerp wrote: post #9
jerf wrote: post #7

I'll give you the flip side of the scammer's deterioration of trust in the phone... a few months back I got a phone call from what appeared to be my bank, and they were asking me about a fraudulent charge that I didn't recognize. Worried that this was the beginning of a scam, I delayed a bit on the phone while I logged in independently to my bank account... and lo, yes, indeed, there was a fraudulent charge to my acc…

For those worried about a situation like this, I set up automated purchase alerts on my credit cards and withdrawal alerts on my bank accounts. I see it all in close-enough-to-real-time, and it's helped me catch fraud before the banks did at least twice in the past few years.

I do the same. At Chase you can set up push alerts for any transaction greater than $0.01 (it won't accept zero).

It's nearly real-time. In any drive-thru I'll have the notification on my phone before the card is handed back to me.

Re: Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever

#12

Post by markovbot »

jerf wrote: post #7

I'll give you the flip side of the scammer's deterioration of trust in the phone... a few months back I got a phone call from what appeared to be my bank, and they were asking me about a fraudulent charge that I didn't recognize. Worried that this was the beginning of a scam, I delayed a bit on the phone while I logged in independently to my bank account... and lo, yes, indeed, there was a fraudulent charge to my acc…

>it really stinks on both sides

I disagree. I think that a there has been a massive amount of misplaced trust in the random inbound calls and caller ID. We should have cleaned it up a long time ago. Now that there is widespread abuse of it, maybe there will finally be some security measures put in place.

Re: Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever

#13

Post by EamonnMR »

TrinaryWorksToo wrote: post #8
misnome wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I'm also happy to phone a direct number that they give me (e.g. subdepartment), as long as I can find the telephone number listed on their public web site. The sticky ones are things that seem to somehow be tied into people at the actual company scamming - my parents recently got a scam Openreach call within a few hours after calling to complain that their telephone had been disconnected a week earlier than pro…

Do we need a certificate authority for phone numbers now?

That would actually be a very good idea to cut down on number spoofing.

Re: Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever

#14

Post by dylz »

segmondy wrote: post #10

The latest scam I've experienced is when I last sold my car through craigslist recently. I would get voice calls, they person says hello, starts asking about my car and the call would cut off. Then I would get a text saying, "sorry, bad signal or it's loud where they are" At that point, a chat bot takes over asking questions about the car and talking about how they really want to buy it but need to make sure that it…

It's typically not CC theft, but CPA spam. CPA spam is incredibly common on craigslist. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_per_action

Re: Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever

#15

Post by fijix »

segmondy wrote: post #10

The latest scam I've experienced is when I last sold my car through craigslist recently. I would get voice calls, they person says hello, starts asking about my car and the call would cut off. Then I would get a text saying, "sorry, bad signal or it's loud where they are" At that point, a chat bot takes over asking questions about the car and talking about how they really want to buy it but need to make sure that it…

Usually, the scammer is getting an affiliate commission whenever you complete the verification report.

You see this a lot with job listings and rentals where the scammer will link to a background check as a condition of hiring/renting.

Re: Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever

#16

Post by rb808 »

How come in 2018 we can't get a reliable CallerID. Surely this is something that could be simply regulated.

Perhaps there should be a few types of CallerID - verified, physical and nominated. Eg a company calls you with a verified ID (like TLS), a local number from a single line is physically authenticated and anything else is just a best guess. That way we can filter more reliably.

Re: Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever

#19

Post by fpgaminer »

We all make mistakes, so I'm hesitant to ever say they should have known better. But...

> Even technology experts are getting taken in by some of the more recent schemes (or very nearly).

Rule number one about phone scams, which I've seen repeated numerously so "technology experts" should know this ... _always_ verify and call the number back. I was under the impression that was common knowledge?

The scams iterated in this article, no matter how complex, would all have been prevented by that simple and pervasive rule.

> “People I’ve talked to about this say there’s no way they’d fall for that, but when someone from a trustworthy number calls, says they’re from your small town bank, and sounds incredibly professional, you’d fall for it, too,” Haughey said.

When someone from a trustworthy number calls, says they're from your small town bank, and sounds incredibly professional, you follow the exact same rule. Hang up. Verify the number. Call back.

Again, even the best of us make mistakes, so I'm not trying to be critical of the victims here. I'm just surprised is all.

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