📞 Phone Scams (Vishing)

Scammers spoof caller ID to pose as banks, agencies, or companies — creating urgency and pushing you to share codes, make payments, or allow remote access.

Use this page to be prepared for phone scams — what they sound like, how they work, and the steps to stay safe.

🔗 Trusted Resources

FCC — Caller ID Spoofing — What spoofing is and what you can do.
🌐 https://www.fcc.gov/spoofing ↗️

FTC — How to Recognize Imposter Scams — Government, business, and family emergency impostors.
🌐 https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-avoid-scam ↗️

Social Security (SSA) — Scam Alerts — Official contact rules and reporting.
🌐 https://www.ssa.gov/scam ↗️

IRS — Tax Scams / Consumer Alerts — How IRS really contacts you (and how they don’t).
🌐 https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-scams-consumer-alerts ↗️

🧭 Recognizing & Responding Safely

Hang up. Call back using the number on your statement or official website.

Never relay verification codes. Banks and agencies won’t ask for one-time codes.

Ignore caller ID. Spoofed names/numbers are common; rely on independent verification.

Report robocalls and spoofed calls to the FCC. Add your number to the Do Not Call Registry — it won’t stop scammers, but it reduces legitimate marketing calls, making scams easier to spot.

📌 Sam’s Tips

The more urgent the call, the more likely it’s a scam.

Codes and passwords are never spoken over the phone.

Ending the call is your superpower. You can always verify later.

📞 Quick example

A caller claims to be from your bank’s “Fraud Department.” They say: “We detected suspicious charges. Read me the two verification codes we just texted you so I can stop the transaction.”

Stop — banks never ask for one-time passcodes over the phone.
Investigate — caller ID says your bank’s name, but spoofing makes this meaningless.
Find better coverage — searching “bank code scam” shows identical scripts used in account-takeover fraud.
Trace — logging into your real bank app shows no alerts, and the text message itself warns: “Do not share this code with anyone.”

This call fails verification. The request for your 2FA codes and the spoofed caller ID match known account-takeover scams.

Why

No legitimate bank or agency asks for verification codes by phone.

Spoofed caller ID makes the call appear official.

Attackers use your code to reset passwords and lock you out of your own accounts.

Your real bank shows no alerts, confirming this is a social-engineering attempt.

Bottom line:
If someone calls asking for a code, hang up and call your bank using the number on the back of your card.