Identity Theft News

Automated phishing scam hits bank customers

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Phishing attacks do not target victims exclusively via email, experts say, pointing to a recent rash of automated phone calls that attempted to convince victims to give up sensitive banking information.

The first stage of the scam, says Bank Info Security, is the robocall, an automated message, ostensibly from a credit union, that informs the victim that their debit card "has been restricted" and instructing them to place a call to a second number to lift the restrictions.

However, the second number asks for bank account numbers and PINs in order to "lift the restrictions," which would allow the criminals behind the scam to easily access all funds from the accounts of their victims. Residents of Iowa, Georgia, and Indiana are the primary targets, according to Bank Info Security.

Some experts characterize the campaign as a telephonic form of spear phishing, since it specifically targets customers of several banks within the target areas. Spear phishing rates have risen in the past year, though more standard email and phone campaigns have rebounded with attacks on social media websites.