Businesses with PBX phone systems have been the latest pawns in the phishing scams run by identity thieves. "Vishing" is the term used for a phishing scam that uses the phone, rather than e-mail. Law enforcement around the country is warning that phishers are now taking over PBX systems and using them to make mass robo-calls to try to steal people's personal information. If you've ever worked in an office, you've probably used a PBX system. It handles incoming and outgoing calls, extensions, outside lines, voice mail, call transfering, etc.

Thieves are taking over PBX systems because a) those systems usually have a lot of lines available for mass calling and b) it allows them to look like they're calling from somewhere else.

So if you run an office and use free software to run your PBX system, get in touch with your software provider to make sure it's updated to handle the latest threats. This is similar to how you should handle your computer security - use anti-virus, a firewall and spyware detection, and make sure all of them are updated.