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Mobile and telephone fraud

What is Vishing?

Vishing is a type of phishing scam that happens on the phone. The word vishing is a combination of ‘voice’ and ‘phishing’.

These are unsolicited phone calls from fraudsters which encourage you to give out your personal details, such as your card, PIN, Mobile Banking App activation/passcodes or card reader codes. The fraudsters can pretend to be your bank, the police, or any other official company.

Fraudsters will call mobile phones or landlines pretending to be from your bank in order to get your personal information or ask you to move money from your personal bank account. They may have some of your personal information, such as name, address, or phone number, to make them seem genuine.

These calls will often seem urgent to get you to act as quickly as possible, giving you minimal time to think about whether the call is fraudulent. The atmosphere and background noises can help the calls seem more convincing.

Sometimes you may get a 'warm up' call where no information is discussed. This is to set the scene for a later call where you may be asked for information.

How to avoid becoming a victim of voice phishing

Never give out your Mobile banking App activation codes and passcode

Never give your full Online Banking PIN, full Online Banking password or card reader codes to anyone over the phone, even a caller claiming to be from your bank or the police

If you get a call asking you for this information, end the call immediately

If you receive a suspicious or unexpected call, always verify it by terminating the call and phoning back using an independently checked phone number, such as one from an official website.

If you receive a request to download software to connect to your computer, and you have not initiated the conversation with the company, decline to do so

Helpful tip sheet to leave by your phone (PDF opens in a new window)

 

What to do if you are a victim of fraud