News
Kaspersky comment: Loveholidays targeted by vishing scam
July 2020 by David Emm, Principal security Researcher at Kaspersky
Following the news that loveholidays has warned its customers that
fraudsters are posing as members of staff to target customers over fake
travel refunds, David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky, has shared the following advice on how to spot a vishing scam.
David Emm, principal security researcher at Kaspersky, said, "This act
of voice-phishing is particularly unpleasant as there is an element of
emotional trauma involved - not only have victims’ holidays been
cancelled, but now they are at risk of losing their money as well. As
society is trying to return to some form of normality, criminals have
naturally chosen to try and exploit one more aspect of the pandemic to
con people out of their money. This scam has the potential to affect a
large number of loveholidays customers, so it’s important that
individuals take extra precautions as it can be hard to spot telephone
scams. Here are a couple of tips to help recognise an attack:
* As a matter of good practice, companies should not usually ask for
bank details over the phone, so if they do this could be a clear sign
that the caller is not from a legitimate organisation
* If an organisation calls you, you have no way to verify their
legitimacy - it could be anyone calling you! So do not give our any
personal information. Instead, hang up and call the organisation they
claim to represent yourself using a number you know is legitimate.
* Don’t feel under pressure - it’s tempting to give in when being put
on the spot, but victims should take a couple of deep breaths and write
down any information about the caller to report to the legitimate
organisation or to the police later on."
