शब्दकोश · सुरक्षा

Vishing (Voice Phishing)

Vishing is phishing by phone call or voice message, where an impersonator pressures someone into revealing credentials, codes or making payments.

अपडेट: अक्टूबर 6, 2026

Vishing, short for "voice phishing", is a social engineering attack made over the telephone or through voice messages. The caller pretends to be a bank, support desk, government official or colleague and tries to extract information or money.

Why it matters

Live conversation creates pressure that email does not. Callers use urgency, authority and a confident script, and caller ID can be spoofed to look genuine. Some attackers target help desks to get passwords reset, and they may ask victims to read out one-time codes, which defeats codes sent by SMS.

Example

A caller claiming to be from a bank's fraud team says there is suspicious activity and asks for the code just texted to the customer's phone. That code actually approves a login the caller started. The correct response is to hang up and call the number printed on the bank card or official website.

Common mistakes

  • Trusting the number shown on screen.
  • Sharing one-time codes or passwords with anyone, including "staff". Legitimate teams do not need them.
  • Staying on the line to "verify" instead of ending the call and calling back independently.
  • Having no help desk procedure for verifying a caller before resetting access.

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