PLDT, Smart: Scammers Turn to ‘Vishing’ After Activation of a New Firewall

​Vishing, or phishing, over phone calls is something that PLDT Inc. (PLDT) and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) caution consumers about. Smart previously announced a significant decrease in SMShing, or phishing via SMS, following the activation of its new, more sophisticated network firewall.

"Criminals are quick to adapt. Now that our new firewall has made it harder for them to send text scams, they now resort to calling customers on their mobile phones or via over-the-top apps to lure them into revealing critical personal data,” warned Jojo Gendrano, SVP and Chief Information Security Officer at PLDT and Smart.

Phishing via voice calls is known as vishing. This is a form of social engineering where fraudsters call potential victims and pose as bank representatives in an attempt to coerce them into disclosing personal information such as account numbers, credit card CVVs, and login credentials. To sound credible, they can refer to the victim by name. They usually threaten to close or suspend their victims' accounts, which makes them panic. Customers may also be informed by these cybercriminals that they have been selected for a complimentary credit card upgrade and that all they have to do is validate their details to get the new card. These two strategies are employed to coerce clients into disclosing private information.

Cybercriminals are also becoming increasingly skilled. To win the trust of the victims, they have used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to produce voices that are lifelike or replicate the voice of a close friend.

“Once criminals possess the necessary information, they will then take over the customer’s account, empty their savings or use their credit card information to make unauthorized transactions,” added Gendrano.

In the first half of July, Smart turned on a new, more sophisticated network firewall, which greatly improved its ability to identify text scams. Up to 30 million harmful texts might be blocked by the new cybersecurity program in a single day, which resulted in a significant decrease in the quantity of SMShing messages that users reported in July.

Smart keeps involving its patrons in the battle against crimes enabled by mobile technology.