financial crime

Receiving cold calls? This might be vishing

Fraud by phone

What is vishing?

Vishing is financial crime that’s committed by phone to get private, personal and financial information from unsuspecting people.

  • Vishers make cold calls and usually pretend to be from a well-known organisation. They will try to gather your personal information throughout the course of the call.
  • Vishers may already know some of your personal information which could've been obtained via social media or other open sources. Vishers will likely use this limited information to try and imply they are calling from a genuine company or for legitimate reasons. However, their main goal is to obtain as much of your information as possible for their financial gain.
  • It's likely that you've had calls asking about your insurance cover and you've possibly even been offered ‘better deals’. These calls are usually made by marketing firms or lead generators and you should always be cautious of providing your personal information to any unexpected callers.

What to do if you receive a cold call

A plant, laptop and a cup of coffee
  • Only give your personal information when you’re absolutely sure the caller is genuine.
  • If you suspect a vishing call, challenge the caller. Ask for more information including their name, company, contact details, the reason for their call and where they got your number.
  • Call back. Many companies, including LV=, will always invite you to call us back for reassurance if you’re unsure of the legitimacy of the call. Always use a contact number located on previously received documentation or from the genuine company’s website.
  • If you use a financial adviser, contact them directly to check if the unsolicited call is linked to them.
  • Report it. If you’ve received a suspicious or nuisance call, email our Financial Crime team.

Vishing – what are we doing and how do we protect you?

What are we doing?

We have a duty to protect our members, customers, advisers and colleagues and we take managing and protecting data seriously – we don’t sell data to third parties.
 
We follow strict controls and have robust procedures in place that prevent and detect fraud or financial crime.

How do we protect you?

It can be difficult for us to investigate each individual case, especially if we have limited information about the caller.
 
Our Financial Crime team regularly analyse inbound calls and information provided by our customers that is considered as suspicious, vishing or nuisance calls. All reported calls are collated and reviewed to identify organisations or trends that may cause a risk to our members, customers, advisers and colleagues.

Do you suspect fraud?

If you’re an LV= member or customer, please contact our Financial Crime team.
Email the team