There’s a new variation on an old scam and it’s tripping up savvy consumers. The “phantom hacker” scam uses a two-stage strategy to gain the trust of the victim.
The first person to contact you will pretend to be tech support or customer support from an established company. It can start with a text, phone call, or email. No matter the method, victims are fed a phone number in order to resolve the fake problem.
The perpetrator then tells the victim that they have to install an app on their computer. This app will allow them to view whatever is on the victim’s screen.
Armed with that access, they ask people to login to their bank’s website and check their balance for whatever pretense. Then they turn the complexity of their operation up a notch.
The victim will get another phone call — from a different person — who says they are from “the fraud department” and that all of the victim’s accounts had been hacked.
Then they go in for the kill, suggesting that the victim should move all of their money to a safe account. It’s conspicuous that they have the victim do this only through cash, cryptocurrency, or wire transfer.
It’s likely that you already do some of these best practices to avoid things like the phantom hacker scam.
- Don’t engage with any intrusive pop-ups
- Don’t let other people have access to your computer
- Know that the government will never request that you make your payment in cryptocurrency, and even cash seems a little iffy.
- The FBI requests that we report any encounters with scammers.
When you think about it, staying on top of new scams can literally take seconds, so why not do it? Here is the FBI’s resource page once more.
We fancy ourselves to be Mega Anti-Scammers at JHA. If you have any question about someone contacting you, we’re here to take that burden. Contact us for more information!
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