Brunswick woman target of ‘phantom hacker’ scam
A document that scammers sent a Brunswick woman as they attempted to steal $90,000 in the “phantom hacker” scam. Courtesy photo
A Brunswick woman was recently targeted in an elaborate “phantom hacker” scam involving people posing as tech support workers, banking agents and government officials.
The FBI last month issued an alert regarding this sort of scam and said some victims have lost their life savings.
That nearly happened to a 64-year-old Brunswick woman targeted through a pop-up ad she said she received when she was trying to log into her Social Security and Facebook accounts using the Chrome browser late last month.
“They are so good at what they do,” said the woman, who requested anonymity because she said she’s embarrassed she fell for the scam. “This is ‘Better Call Saul’-level crime.”
The ad said her computer was frozen and her Microsoft account was hacked and directed her to call a customer service number. She called and was asked to download a program that the FBI said gives the scammers remote access to her computer, which she did. The impostor said her account was used to download child pornography and her credit card information was compromised on the dark web.
She was told to call “Det. John Krebs” of the Federal Trade Commission, who claimed criminals involved in drug and human trafficking had used her personal information to set up shell companies and the FTC was investigating whether she was involved. He texted her official-looking documents with the FTC seal and told her to not disclose the information to anyone because the agency viewed her as a possible cooperating witness.
“They had me so convinced I was a suspect in an international crime ring and the only reason they weren’t battering down my door was I was being a cooperative witness,” she said.
She was then called by “Financial Officer Eric Miles” of the FTC, who told her to give him her Social Security number and attempted to persuade her to transfer $90,000 out of her banking accounts to keep it safe from the traffickers. “John Krebs” called her and reminded her not to disclose the information to anyone. “Eric Miles” said the traffickers were…
