--- title: A Phish Tale description: Phishing occurs in communication that appears to be from companies or people you know and trust, but are, in fact, from scammers. image: https://blog.avadiancu.com/hubfs/Blog%20Images/phishing.jpg --- [Skip to main content](https://blog.avadiancu.com/a-phish-tale#maincontent) # A Phish Tale Chances are, you’ve heard of phishing scams. However, you likely associate phishing with emails. [This article on MyCreditUnion.gov](https://www.mycreditunion.gov/fraud-prevention-center/scams) reminds us that phishing can come in the form of emails, texts (called “Smishing,” who knew?), or phone calls (called “Vishing;” again, who knew?). Phishing occurs in communication that *appears* to be from companies or people you know and trust, but are, in fact, from scammers. Their aim is to get you to respond in some way – perhaps by clicking on a link or sharing info via text or phone call – that gives them access to your personal information to steal your money or identity.![Man on phone](https://blog.avadiancu.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog%20Images/phishing.jpg?width=509&name=phishing.jpg) ## A Phishing Story One of our co-workers was recently the victim of a phishing attempt. He received a personal call on his cell phone purporting to be from a company he’d bought anti-virus protection from but had recently cancelled. (The phone number that showed up on caller ID was even the company’s number.) The call said he was going to be charged $99 if he didn’t respond and cancel his service in the next two hours. He explained to the representative that he’d cancelled his service recently, but the rep said there had been a technical glitch that had occurred and resulted in the cancellation not going through. The “representative” went on to explain that our co-worker needed to be at his home computer so they could cancel the service. That didn’t smell right. Our co-worker began to ask more questions and push back. The conversation quickly devolved until the “representative” got cross with him and hung up when our co-worker demanded to speak to a supervisor. The calls have continued from the same “company” – from different phone numbers – but now our co-worker just hangs up and blocks the number. ## How to Protect Yourself The [article on MyCreditUnion.gov](https://www.mycreditunion.gov/fraud-prevention-center/scams) mentioned earlier has some great tips about protecting yourself. Here are a few highlights: **Don’t click on links that ask for personal information.** Legitimate business will never ask you to send sensitive information through unsecure channels. **Don’t open unexpected attachments.** **Delete suspicious messages, even if you know the source. **As our IT security guru at Avadian says, “WIDD: when in doubt, don’t.” Also, check the [FTC’s site](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts) about popular scams. 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