VoIP Spam On the Rise

A new form of spam and phishing is on the rise

As if email spam wasn't bad enough, scammers are finding more sophisticated means of getting to people's private and personal information -- through voice over IP phone services. The new technique involves using phone numbers instead of using websites. Traditional bank scam emails have asked a person to connect to a website that appears to look legitimate. When dialed in, the person is asked to verify their banking information by entering in details like debit card number, passwords and credit card information.

Because these techniques are so widespread, spammers are now asking people to actually call a real phone number. When dialed in, the caller is presented with a realistic message and proceeds to walk the caller through verification steps. Yet again, the caller is asked to enter in private information.

These new phishing attacks use VoIP numbers because they can be easily removed to avoid detection -- new numbers pop up everyday. Also, the numbers are not associated to a subscriber in the same manner as a traditional land-line.

One of the easiest ways to avoid website spam is to turn off HTML email. This way, an email client will always display the raw URL address of a link, rather than display normal text. Unfortunately, phone numbers are more difficult to identify as being legitimate. It's always advisable however that customers dial the numbers listed on the back of their bank cards instead of anything they receive through email.