Vishing

A form of phishing conducted over a telephone call rather than by email or text message, in which a caller impersonates a bank, a government agency, a technology company or another trusted party in order to deceive a victim into disclosing sensitive information such as a bank account number, a Social Security number or a one-time authentication code, or into directly transferring money. Documented forms include impersonating a bank's fraud department to persuade a victim to move money into a fraudster-controlled account described as a safe account, and impersonating a government tax or law enforcement agency to demand immediate payment of a supposed debt or fine under threat of arrest. The United States Federal Trade Commission and Federal Bureau of Investigation both track vishing as a distinct and growing category within their broader consumer fraud and internet crime reporting, noting that caller ID spoofing, which allows a caller to falsify the displayed number, has made a vishing call more difficult for a target to distinguish from a genuine call from the impersonated institution.