You may have heard of phishing, vishing, and even smishing. But have you heard of spoofing?
Spoofing is the act of displaying characteristics that do not belong to you in order to assume a false identity. Fraudsters have been using this tactic through email for decades but have discovered a new medium in recent years: caller ID.
How It Works
Caller ID spoofing is when someone calling your phone deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. Surprisingly, this all began as a marketing tool used by businesses over a decade ago. Now, scammers are using it to steal money.
Normally, your phone displays the name and/or phone number associated with the line used to call you. Now, fraudsters use services that allow you to display any spoofed Caller ID with any fictional name or number.
Using this tactic, a scammer looking to gain access to a victimโs bank accounts will spoof the phone number of the victimโs bank. They will tell the victim that thereโs been unusual activity on their account and ask them to provide sensitive information in order to correct it. Most times, thereโs an added sense of urgency to their spoofed call, telling victims things like, โThereโs no time to waste because you could lose everything to a fraudster.โ Once personal information is shared, the scammer can take over the account and unauthorized transactions begin.
Security Steps to Take
The first step to protecting your account is knowing that scams like this exist. The second is doing daily account reconciliation and credit monitoring, because the quicker you catch the fraud, the less damage is done.
Always be skeptical of unprompted phone calls or text messages from your bank. Think twice about what you reveal online and call your bank directly if you have even the slightest concern over your banking activity.
Even if youโve already taken the bait of answering the call, itโs never too late to hang up. If youโre unsure, simply hang up, evaluate the situation, and call your bank at a phone number you trust and advise them of what happened. Fraud experts at the bank can help to review any activity that is concerning and install protective measures to preserve your accounts.
Your Security Partner
Like most banks, we do everything in our power to protect your accounts from these scams by designing each product and service with security features like automated transaction limits and banking alerts. Combined with rigorous telephone authentication procedures and multifactor authentication, these security measures are tried and true ways to mitigate any risk of an account takeover. Despite all the built-in safeguards, 80% of the account compromises encountered annually start with a fake email, text message, or pop-up ad combined with an elaborate social engineering scheme and human error.
We want to remind you that while we do our part to protect your hard-earned money, itโs important to do your own due diligence.
Protecting you โ and your money โ is a collaborative effort. Weโll do our part, will you do yours?
