With advances in technology and online storefronts, it has become increasingly tasking to spot an internet fraud before falling victim. When it comes to cyber security and shielding your sensitive information in cyberspace or over the phone, it is important to know the latest tricks these unscrupulous people adopt. Understanding the key differences between smishing, phishing, and vishing can save you from inadvertently sharing sensitive information with scammers.
While each type of virtual attack attempts to steal personal information like bank statements and ATM card numbers, they take different approaches. While phishing uses emails and links, smishing uses text messages or common messaging apps, and vishing uses voice calls and voicemails to obtain sensitive information.
Key Differences Between Smishing, Phishing, and Vishing
When it comes to phishing, smishing, and vishing, the foremost thing to remember is each attack could compromise your personal information. Internet scammers often use seemingly legitimate email addresses and phone numbers to gain trust and infiltrate your network, banking, and personal information.
The key differences boil down to how these scammers obtain the information. Phishing is one of the most common forms of fraud, where scammers use a seemingly real email address with a link that urges you to input information such as your full name, social security number, and credit card number.
Smishing uses text messages or common messaging apps, to contact unsuspecting individuals. A link or website URL where scammers will ask for your personal and banking information is usually attached to the messages.
Like the previous two types of scams, vishing gains access to your personal information, but this method uses a phone call or voicemail to prompt users to expose private information.
Each type of scam could put your personal and banking information at risk, so understanding exactly how they work and who they target could save you significant time and money.
Here’s a closer look at phishing, smishing, and vishing and how you can protect yourself against these attacks.
SMISHING
smishing text message
According to a recent study, over 64% of the world’s population send or receive a text message daily. It’s an increasingly common form of communication that seems innocent and second nature, therefore becoming an ideal avenue for scammers. Among the 23 billion daily text messages sent worldwide, scammers imbed dangerous and unsuspecting links that could quickly lead to fraud.
Smishing is an increasingly popular form of virtual scamming where individuals pose as employees of common businesses or banks to gain the trust of their recipients. The definition of smishing can be summed up as a type of virtual scam that uses a targeted text message to convince the recipient to open a link that will capture personal information or install malicious software on the person’s device.
The scammer often takes measures to seem like they’re a well-known business, like using an official logo or a similar phone number, to gain the recipients’ trust. The prompting message may include your name and address, which can be found through an online search, but it makes the scam seem like an official message.
The message will typically include a time-sensitive prompt such as “Click the link today to avoid a late fee,” which makes the recipient more likely to fall for the scam.
Embedded links in these messages can lead to the installation of harmful software that compromises your phone’s security. With the embedded software, scammers can access private details such as emails, messages, phone logs, and even banking information.
Another way smishing compromises your information is with a prompt to open a specific URL webpage. The webpage may ask you to input sensitive information to confirm your identity, which the scammers will then have complete access to.
If you find yourself receiving an unexpected message from someone that poses as a bank, network provider, credit wallet app, or mortgage employee, always call your specific institution to verify that a message was sent on their behalf. It’s always best to double-check with the “company” that sent the message to ensure you’re not the target of a smishing scam.
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