Scammers' techniques are increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect. To this we must add that some only need a few seconds to deceive us. One of them is known as the vishing technique (a combination of “voice” and phishing). The mechanism is simple. We all receive calls from companies looking to sell their services (insurance, banking, mobile telephony, electricity, gas…) and to do so they only need us to accept the conditions. Which requires only a “yes” from us.and.
Thus, answering “yes” to the calls we receive on our phone can put the security of our personal and financial data at risk. According to INCIBE “by recording our voice, scammers They can use it to authorize financial transactions, contracts or even falsify our identity. Additionally, voice recordings can also be manipulated and used as evidence in situations that could put our reputation at risk.”
Fortunately, for those who have not yet fallen for this type of scam, the police and INICIBE have received so many complaints that the modus operandi of the scammers is very clear and they have elaborated a step by step that allows us to identify this type of calls.
“The victim receives a phone call from a scammer who poses as a representative of a bank, sales service, customer service, support or others – states INICIBE -. The scammer may use social engineering techniques to build trust, such as mentioning the victim's basic personal information or referencing a supposedly recent transaction. It may also be the case that Call the victim and when he says “yes”, no one will answer. In the latter case, obviously no conversation is established between sender and receiver.”
– YESSSS???? 📞📞
❌NO❌ Don't answer with a Yes
👉The #scammers They ask questions for you to answer with a Yes and record your voice to use it later to register for a service
➡Hang up quickly if you are suspicious
⚠️Be careful with #yesscampic.twitter.com/qrVdYJFZhD
— National Police (@policia) October 30, 2023
The fact that we do not even require an interaction with us is what makes this type of scam so complex to avoid. The first thing is to respond with a Hello. If we suspect that they may try to trick us into responding with a Yes, use alternative formssuch as Correct or Exact.
If we suspect that the call is fraudulent, we can hang up directly without providing any personal information. Not even when they tell us our document number. Simply, We hung up without prolonging the conversation.
The second step is to confirm if the call originates from a real entity and was made by an operator of the same. We can call the telephone numbers available on invoices or online and check if they are offering what the operator told us.
It is also important to monitor our accounts in case there are unusual movements after calls. If we detect this, notify our bank immediately. And finally, control the information that circulates about us on the internet. We may not have social networks or we may not post anything, but we do have friends or at least a social circle that can quote or tag us. And that's enough for scammers to cite a place we recently visited or a supposed contact who gave them our phone number.
Finally, INCIBE also recommends doing some egosurfing: see what has been published about us on the internet and activate Google alerts to receive notifications about mentions of our name or personal information and to be able to take the necessary measures to remove them from the Internet.