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Posted on 08/24/2025 11:23:10 AM PDT by Libloather
A cybersecurity expert warns that a scam that has been used to drain entire life savings or retirement accounts has become "devastating" for seniors.
FBI Los Angeles on July 15 posted a reminder on X about the Phantom Hacker Scam, which has cost Americans over $1 billion since at least 2024, according to the agency. The FBI said the scam targets senior citizens and warns that victims could lose their "life savings."
The scam operates in three phases: a "tech support impostor," "financial institution impostor" and a "US government impostor."
In the first phase, a tech support impostor will contact victims through text, phone call or email, then direct them to download a program allowing the scammer remote access to their computer. Then, the scammer asks victims to open their financial accounts to "determine whether there have been any unauthorized charges," which the FBI says "is most lucrative for targeting." Afterwards, the scammer will choose an account to target, then tell the victim they will get a call for further instructions from the "fraud department" of the bank hosting their account.
In the second phase, the financial institution impostor will then call the victim and inform them that their funds have been "accessed by a foreign hacker" and must be moved to a "safe" third party account. Victims are then instructed to send the money via wire transfer, cash or cryptocurrency, and are told to send "multiple transactions over a span of days or months."
In the third phase of the scam, the victim could be contacted by someone posing as a U.S. government employee, who prompts the individual to move their funds to an "alias" account for protection.
Pete Nicoletti, chief information security officer at Check Point, told Fox News Digital the scam has become "devastating" for seniors...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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He’s a scumbag, and I would be really interested in just how much money he gives to congress for something like this to be so ignored. Facebook is ground zero for internet scams and it’s allowed to continue year after year.
I wrote a letter to Trump about this but who knows if he got it. I was very disturbed when Trump won the election, Zuckerturd immediately went running to Trump to have a meeting and nobody said what happen with that. This is punk who spent half a billion dollars to install Joe Biden as President. How many people died because of that?
Maybe trying to talk to Melania or Lara might have some effect. Although no way of knowing if they’ll ever see the letter.
You’re right - Congress should do something about this! Zuck doesn’t seem to have a conscience.
I saw a video where they tried to scam the wrong guy who somehow got control of the scammer’s computer and started downloading the scammer’s money while the scammer could only watch and scream - and I do mean scream! It was beautiful!
Someone tried to scam me from a Craig’s list ad and they actually thought I was gong to deposit 2k into Coinstar for them (supposedly to pay for the movers who would come and get the furniture I was selling) - this after they sent me a bad check - why isn’t someone prosecuted for this? I had called the bank it was written on and they said it would never cash. At the end of it I told the scammer to check the address I sent them - it was the local police station. That was the end of that.
I get bogus emails almost everyday. Sad that they probably work too often.
I still wouldn’t believe the FBI if they told me the sky is blue and water is wet. They are still all crooks. Every damned one of them.
I’m not sure they necessarily know who is rich or poor. They just fish for victims.
The last time we bought a new mattress and the delivery guys were taking the old one out, I asked my husband very loudly, “Did you get all the money out of that mattress?”
The guys got a laugh along with their tip.
I once got a call from a woman who claimed to be a police officer in Atlanta. She had a generic Anglo-Saxon name and a bland accent. She told me my brother Alan got arrested.
I hung up and called Alan, giving him this woman's number. (He lives in Denver.) He called her and said, "Hi, I'm Alan, xxxx's brother. I heard I got arrested."
Click. (Her end)
And dementia. Judgement goes out the window.
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