A new Phishing scheme has been discovered that attempts to trick users into calling their bank, credit card company, or financial institution to verify their phone number but anyone following the instructions are actually forwarding their phone calls to the attacker’s telephone.

The scam emails have instructions similar to the following:

Step 1- Go to your phone and Dial *72 Step 2- Dial 7075314910 (XYZ Bank Secure Line)
Step 3- Your phone is confirmed.

You will receive a call from us in 1 h for final verification!

If you have confirmed your phone, you can continue the update process:

The calls, once forwarded, will continue to be forwarded until the victim
realizes they’ve stopped receiving calls and hopefully figures out how to disable the call forwarding.

Secureworks reports that the the attacker confirms their phone number, and collects their social security number, bank account, credit card number and other personal information to start making fraudulent transactions and steal their credit identity.

With the victims number also forwarded to the attacker if the customer’s bank calls to inquire about any suspicious activity the attacker can say the transactions were legitimate and demand they be permitted.

[Call Forwarding Phishing Attack]

Tags: phishing, security, call forwarding, security, identity theft