What is Vishing, this diabolical scam that wreaks havoc and worries the authorities

there is Scams, by email, by SMS… but also when you pick up your phone. Is your bank number displayed? On the line, a person claims to be a banking advisor. Enormous.

This strategy, very well put together, has a name, “ wishing », and a caste from the north explains, in this month of February 2024, he himself was a victim.

The Hazebrouck gendarmerie company, in particular, relates this on its page FacebookA call to vigilance begins:

“You are the owner of the bank card number…”

The police detail the sequence of the call: “Hello, I’m Mr. X from the Anti-Fraud Service. You are the owner of bank card number XXX. I see that suspicious transactions have been observed on your account. But, fortunately, they were blocked. Together we will check if you want your account and your bank details and proceed to block your bank card.”

By displaying the victim’s bank’s official telephone number on the victim’s smartphone, scammers are able to gain instant trust.

In fact, the “gentleman” in question bought your details on the darknet (superimposed networks that are on the internet but cannot be accessed without special software) in an attempt to empty your bank account.

At the moment, when the (false) adviser gives his speech, you have to “kill him”, summarizes the gendarme. And remember that you must, “in any case”, provide your banking information, and even less “your identifiers” and even “less, less your password”.

“Information used by scammers may have been obtained through phishing”

To deal with these insistent and persuasive scammers, the best thing to do is to hang up and contact your advisor yourself.

Typically, the scammer calls or encourages the victim to contact him and presents himself as a consultant or agent of his bank’s anti-fraud department. He has a lot of information about him to make his scam credible: identity, address, bank card details, account numbers, etc. In some cases, he even takes away the telephone number from his bank.

“The information used by the scammer to target the victim and lend credibility to his scam could have been obtained in different ways: Phishing (Editor’s note: or “phishing” which involves obtaining from an email recipient, apparently legitimate, the victim’s device (computer, telephone, etc.) to one of its contact details, transmitting account hacking, password-stealing viruses, etc. », lists Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, a site specializing in digital threats.

“Close your bank card immediately in the event of a call”

And then, on the phone, he asks the victim to contact the codes received by SMS or confirm the actions on his banking application.

“These codes or confirmations actually allow the scammer to validate fraudulent operations on the victim’s accounts: purchases by bank card, adding beneficiaries and transfers…”, warns the digital security help and prevention site, which lists some tips:

Your bank’s advisor will never ask you to access your passwords, confirmation codes, or perform validation or cancellation actions on your banking application for ongoing fraud on your accounts. .

• Be wary of alarming calls or messages (SMS, etc.) that appear from your bank informing you of fraudulent transactions on your accounts.
• Check the information for yourself by contacting your bank using your usual means (branch, bank advisor, customer service, messaging in your customer area or banking application, etc.).
• Under no circumstances should you validate an operation that is not at the root, even if your interlocutor pretends that it is being cancelled.
• Close your bank card immediately if you receive a call from a false advisor, and even more so if a fraudulent purchase has been made with your bank card, to prevent any further malicious use. Your bank’s opposition telephone number can be found on its website and at its ATMs. You can also contact the Interbank Credit Card Dispute Server by telephone on 0 892 705 705 (premium rate number), the service is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Victim help numbers

And if scammers have accessed your online banking account or if you suspect it, change its access pin/password as soon as possible or ask your bank to reset it. And file a complaint! Your bank may require a copy of your complaint to process your request.

Keep evidence, including telephone numbers, messages or emails you receive, transfer orders, payment records or any other information that could be used to report the scam to the authorities.

The Association can assist you in this process free of charge France victims On 116 006 (free call and service), the Ministry of Justice’s victim assistance number. The service is open 7 days a week from 9 am to 7 pm.

For advice in your endeavours, contact the Info Scam Platform of the Ministry of Home Affairs on 0 805 805 817 (free call and service). The service is open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6:30 pm.

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