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DICTIONARY/ Alive/ Vishing
● Alive n. 20 yrs & counting Scams & security

Vishing

Phishing by phone call — vishing — in which a person claiming to be your bank, your tax office or your own IT department talks you through handing over what they need. Named in 2006, industrialised by call centres, and lately augmented by cloned voices. The record's entry for the call you should hang up on.

Born
Peak
Died
Cause of death
First sighting
Security press, 2006 (voice + phishing)
Life & death · 2005–2027
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
2026
PEAK 2020
BORN · 2006
NOW · 2026

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1 article mention this record

Testimony

3 entries · newest first
Sighting @dialup_ghost · Coroner needs source 2 Nov 2020

Seen in the wild on a school noticeboard — a teacher's handwritten poster with Vishing on it, followed by a smiley. Genuinely unsure whether this is the birth or the death.

Memory @frames_forever · Archivist 22 Aug 2020

I remember when Vishing was still a niche thing — 2006 — and you could use it without a footnote. The footnote arrived about six weeks later and never left.

Definition @algospeak_alice · Poster 30 Jul 2020

The record notes the vishing call is polite, urgent and already knows your name, and that the only correct response is to hang up and call the number on the back of the card.

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