Crooks used simple phone scam to compromise vendor account, spilling personal and financial data belonging to more than 15,000 people

A voice-phishing scam targeting one of Ericsson's service providers has exposed the personal data of more than 15,000 individuals after attackers sweet-talked an employee into handing over access.

The incident, disclosed in filings with US state regulators, traces back to April 2025 when crooks targeted a single employee at an unnamed third-party vendor supporting Ericsson's US operations.

According to the company's disclosure, the service provider discovered the breach on April 28, 2025, after spotting what it describes as a "vishing" incident – essentially social engineering carried out over the phone. The third-party later determined that attackers may have accessed data between April 17 and April 22.

Once the alarm was sounded, the vendor says it brought in outside cybersecurity experts, forced password resets, notified the FBI, and launched a probe into what the callers managed to get their hands on.

Ericsson Inc, the US arm of the ...