Star Staff Reports
To All State of Tennessee Employees:
The State’s Information Security department has confirmed that various Verizon customers (including State of Tennessee employees) are receiving phone calls offering a $35 credit on their Verizon account. These phone calls are false phishing scams targeted at collecting personal information including passwords, personal information, or bank account or credit card numbers.
This specific scam has been circulating for a while now and will most likely reappear in other similar forms in the future. All such calls or messages are aimed at soliciting your personal information for fraudulent purposes. If you receive a phone call from a source claiming to be Verizon Wireless, do not go to the website provided in the message and do not provide any information to the caller whether live or via automated service.
As is the case with phishing scams that arrive via email, phone phishing can be avoided if properly identified.
Never provide personal information in response to SMS, text messages and phone calls requesting such data. If you suspect that a request is valid, call the source back using a corporate number posted on the official company website and confirm the request before providing any personal information such as name, address, phone number, passwords, PINS or payment information. As always, when it comes to Spam and Phishing, you are our first and best line of defense.
If you are mindful of potential traps and are observant of the signs of these type of attacks, you can better defend yourself against Spam and Phishing whether via email or phone.
