BACKGROUND
BruCERT has received several complaints recently about a tele-survey phone scam allegedly from a company named Prolific, asking people for their personal email address purportedly to send a survey through email. However, the real purpose is to collect sensitive and personal information.
MODUS OPERANDI
According to reports, scammers contact potential victims through landline phone numbers as these details can easily be found online, such as full name, complete home address and landline phone numbers. The scammer would claim to be conducting an online survey, and in order to complete the survey, they would require the victim's active email address and some other potentially sensitive information.
IMPACT
- Identity theft
- Data leakage or compromise
- Personal information can be stolen
- Phishing attack
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Do not give out your personal information to people you do not know.
- Verify the caller by calling back the organization that they claimed to be from.
- Do not respond to any of their questions without any proper verification.
- Record and save voice recordings if possible.
- Report to the respective organization if the call seems suspicious.
- Report to the police if a threat is involved.
- Keep in mind that banks will never contact you to ask for your card number or password.
- Do not answer a call if the caller ID looks suspicious.