Unfortunately, we are all susceptible to falling for a scam of one type or another. There are many around us and it is easy that at some point it is our turn. We can fall into it or identify it. And precisely for that, below We will tell you what the scam is.Caller ID spoofing‘.
This is a scam that has just gone viral because it cost the victim their savings. As? The criminals posed as an entity of a well-known bank, and the worst part was that the telephone number coincided with that of one of the agencies. As they say, let’s see what identity theft and how to protect yourself from this phone scam.
What is caller ID spoofing?
First of all, you need to know this technique. The more people know about this type of scam, the better it is for users. This scam involves spoofing a real phone number. In the case of the viral scam these days, the number of a branch of a well-known bank, ING. This is something very important and one that scammers use to their advantage..
As? Well, because in the middle of the call, when the person concerned realized that something was wrong, the scammers told him that he could carry out the procedure (a transfer to ING accounts self- saying safe because his was in danger) in an office, but also on Google the number from which they were calling.
Since the number coincided with that of a real branch located in Madrid, the victim had the information she needed to stop believing it was a scam and start thinking that, in fact, her money was in danger.
But… How do they do it? As my colleague Eva explains in Xataka Móvil, the telephone network is made up of a series of small interconnected networks. It is considered a secure environment, but there are actually some vulnerabilities that criminals can exploit.
Using software called Asterisk (open source) with a SIP service that does not restrict caller ID (the number or identity of the caller), criminals can manipulate the identification by pretending to be a real phone number to deceive potential recipients.
It’s a scam, although it requires some technical knowledge, allows you to adopt the identity necessary for the scam in question. Instead of calling impersonally, scammers can pose as real entities and businesses. Additionally, if they have stolen data, they may have some knowledge about us, such as our location or our full name.
Eventually, Caller ID spoofing added to scams like Phishing or the wishes They can be very, very dangerous. Moreover, in the case of the viral scam these days, it is added that the criminals sent a confirmation SMS to the victim. In fact, it was a well-thought-out scam and it is a mistake to think that this would never happen to us, since it can happen at any time.
How did you realize it was a scam? After making the transfers, the person called back, but at that point it was no longer the scammers, but the ING agency who confirmed that it was a scam. As we said, the number was real, only the scammers had masked their number with that of the ING agency.
How to Avoid Being a Victim of an Identity Theft Scam
In the middle of last year, the National Police had already alerted citizens about the identity theftdeclaring in October 2023 that More than 830,000 dollars had already been defrauded with these practices.
This is something quite sophisticated because it is not necessary to verbalize the password of a bank account for it to be captured. The cybercriminal himself can warn of the dangers of giving passwords over the phone. and trick the scammer into entering it using the mobile keypad. However, thanks to the sound of the keys, they can get their hands on your password.
There are therefore a series of general recommendations to avoid, to a large extent, falling victim to scams such as identity theft:
- Apart from not typing passwordsObviously, do not give out any type of personal information or your accounts over the phone. A bank will not ask you to take any steps, the telematic method being the application or the website and, ultimately, the agency in person.
- Do not provide personal data either or banking transactions by SMS.
- You are not required to provide passwords by telephone.
- If they call you and assure you that they come from a bank, you check and the number, indeed, comes from that bank, Hang up and call the official number of your entity. You will then contact the real number of the bank. Say what happened and they will confirm it is a scam.
Ultimately, you have to be careful, but scammers are well versed in social and technological engineering techniques to try to catch us. We hope this was helpful to you and the more people who know about this type of case, the better.
Cover image | Bing Image Maker
In Xataka Android | How to Unlock and Recover Your Android if You Forgot Pattern or Password
