What Is Vishing?
Vishing is phishing conducted over a phone call. The term combines "voice" and "phishing." An attacker calls, often posing as a bank representative, IT support, a supplier, or even a senior executive, to convince the target to share sensitive information, approve a payment, or grant system access.
Vishing is effective because a live voice on the other end of the line creates urgency and a false sense of legitimacy that a written message cannot always achieve. Caller ID can be spoofed, background noise can mimic a real call center, and a confident, well-rehearsed script can pressure someone into acting before they think to verify.
Modern vishing increasingly uses AI-generated voice cloning, allowing attackers to imitate the voice of a real colleague or executive convincingly. A request that sounds like it is coming from the CFO is far harder to question than a generic phone call.
The best defense against vishing is a clear verification habit: if a call requests money, access, or sensitive data, the recipient should hang up and call back using a known, trusted number rather than continuing the original call.