The Maui News
The FBI’s Honolulu office is warning the public of a new scam called “The Phantom Hacker” that aims to deceive victims into thinking that foreign hackers have infiltrated their financial account.
Impersonating technology, banking and government officials, the scammers instruct their victims — typically older residents — to “protect” their assets by immediately moving their money to an alleged U.S. government account, where it is then controlled by the scammers. Some victims are losing their entire life savings.
“These scammers are cold and calculated,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill said in a news release Wednesday. “They are targeting older members of our community who are particularly mindful of potential risks to their financial nest eggs. The criminals are using the victims’ own attentiveness against them.”
Scammers in “The Phantom Hacker” typically follow three major steps:
• Posing as a tech support representative who convinces a victim to download a software program allowing the scammer remote access to the victim’s computer. The scammer pretends to run a virus scan and falsely claims the computer is at risk of being hacked. The scammer then asks the victim to open their financial accounts to determine whether there have been any unauthorized charges, allowing them to see which account is most lucrative for targeting. They then inform the victim that they will receive a call from that financial institution’s fraud department with further instructions.
• Posing as a financial institution representative who falsely informs the victim that their computer and financial accounts have been accessed by a foreign hacker and that their money must be moved to a “safe” third-party account with the Federal Reserve or another U.S. government agency. The victim is directed to transfer money via a wire transfer, cash or wire conversion to cryptocurrency, often directly to overseas recipients. The victim is told not to inform anyone of the real reason they are moving their money and may be asked to send multiple transactions over a span of days or months.
• Posing as a representative of the Federal Reserve or another U.S. government agency to send an email or a letter on what appears to be an official letterhead. The scammer will continue to emphasize that the victim’s funds are “unsafe” and that they must be moved to a new “alias” account for protection until the victim concedes.
To protect against scams, the FBI reminds the public:
• Do not click on unsolicited pop-ups, links sent via text messages or email links or attachments.
• Do not contact the telephone number provided in a pop-up, text or email.
• Do not download software at the request of an unknown individual who contacted you.
• Do not allow an unknown individual who contacted you to have control of your computer.
• The U.S. government will never request that a person send money to them via wire transfer, cryptocurrency or gift/prepaid cards.
Fraudulent or suspicious activity should be reported to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. Victims should provide the name of the person or company that contacted them, methods of communication used and the bank account number where the funds were wired to and the recipient’s name.
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