The name vishing is a combination of "voice" and "phishing," which describes similar scams that take place online.

The Register: FBI warns over "alarming" rise in American "vishing"

Vishing or Voice Phishing What is Vishing?

Vishing involves a fraudster posing on the phone as someone from a bank or building society fraud investigation team, the police or another legitimate organisation such as a telephone or internet provider.

Vishing is used to target any numerical data, such as credit card information, PIN (Personal Identification Numbers), SIN (Social Insurance Numbers), date of birth, or bank account numbers.

The e-mail version of vishing relies on the idea that asking people to call a toll-free number will avoid the suspicion associated with clicking links in e-mails—a widely publicized source of transmitting viruses and other malware.

Company continued mobile charge A YEAR after cancellation 'Vishing' phone call scams: Watchdog calls for extra vigilance The Crusader: Pill trial refund was just the tonic There was a number to call at the store, but this was unobtainable.

Consumer Rights and Responsibilities Resolving Problems with Your Bank Small Business Services The Online Glossary Quick Facts Bank Holiday Schedules Fraud and Security Vishing What is Vishing?

Voice phishing is difficult for legal authorities to monitor or trace.

Government, financial institutions, as well as online auctions and their payment services, can be targets of Voice Phishing.

Voice phishing is typically used to steal credit card numbers or other information used in identity theft schemes from individuals.

Voice phishing is the criminal practice of using social engineering over the telephone system to gain access to private personal and financial information from the public for the purpose of financial reward.

Similar to phishing, in which an e-mail message directs someone to a fake website and prompts them for personal information, vishing or voice phishing directs a person to an illegitimate telephone number.

"Vishing" or "Voice Phishing" is the act of leveraging a new technology called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in using the telephone system to falsely claim to be a legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam users into disclosing personal information.