Tag Archive for: texas

‘The Phantom Hacker’ Torments Residents of El Paso, Texas

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(TNS) — El Paso is warning the public of a new scam dubbed “The Phantom Hacker.” Scammers are impersonating technology, banking, and government officials in a complex ruse to convince a typically older victim that foreign hackers have infiltrated their financial account. The scammers then instruct the victim to immediately move their money to an alleged U.S. Government account to “protect” their assets. In reality, there was never any foreign hacker, and the money is now fully controlled by the scammers. Some victims are losing their entire life savings, a press release said.

“These scammers are cold and calculated. They are targeting older members of our community who are particularly mindful of potential risks to their nest eggs. The criminals are using the victims’ own attentiveness against them,” said Special Agent in Charge John S. Morales, in the release. “By educating the public about this alarming new scam, we hope to get ahead of these scammers and prevent any further victimization.”

“The Phantom Hacker” Scam: How It Works


The FBI has observed repeated behavior by criminals involved in “The Phantom Hacker” scam. The ruse is often perpetrated in three major steps:

Step 1 — Tech Support Imposter

In the first step, a scammer posing as customer support representative from a legitimate technology company initiates contact with the victim through a phone call, text, email, or a pop-up window on their computer and instructs the victim to call a number for “assistance.”

Once the victim calls the phone number, a scammer directs the victim to download a software program allowing the scammer remote access to the victim’s computer. The scammer pretends to run a virus scan on the victim’s computer and falsely claims the victim’s computer either has been or is at risk of being hacked.

Next, the scammer requests the victim open their financial accounts to determine whether there have been any unauthorized charges — a tactic to allow the scammer to determine which financial account is most lucrative for targeting. The scammer informs the victim they will receive a call from that financial institution’s fraud department…

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China-Backed Hackers Threaten Texas Military Sites, Utilities

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(TNS) — A Chinese government-backed hacker group’s apparent plan to upend utilities and communication systems that power U.S. military bases poses a major threat to Joint Base San Antonio — and potentially to the region’s water and electricity customers.

U.S. officials say the group, called Volt Typhoon, has inserted malware — computer code intended to damage or disrupt networks or to covertly collect information — deep in the systems of numerous water and electric utilities that serve military installations in the United States and abroad.

The aim could be to delay a U.S. military response if China’s People’s Liberation Army invades Taiwan. President Joe Biden has said the U.S. military would intervene if China invaded the island nation.


“I would be most concerned about U.S. assets in the Pacific Rim — in South Korea and Japan,” said John Dickson, a San Antonio-based cybersecurity consultant and former Air Force intelligence officer. “But we are Military City, USA, and a sophisticated reader doesn’t have to do too much to connect the dots.”

San Antonio is flush with military personnel and missions. It’s home to Fort Sam Houston, the largest military medical training installation in the U.S., as well as to JBSA-Randolph and JBSA-Lackland Air Force bases.

Lackland trains the service’s incoming airmen and conducts cyber warfare and intelligence-gathering operations at its Security Hill facility.

The National Security Agency’s Texas Cryptologic Center occupies a sprawling campus on San Antonio’s West Side. The center conducts worldwide signals intelligence and cybersecurity operations. Signals intelligence involves collecting, decoding and interpreting electronic communications.

It’s unclear if the networks of the San Antonio Water System or CPS Energy, both owned by the city of San Antonio, are infected with Volt Typhoon’s malware.

CPS, the largest municipally owned utility in the U.S., has 930,000 electric and 381,000 gas customers. SAWS serves 511,000 water and 456,000 wastewater customers. The two utilities’ service areas encompass Bexar County and small swaths of neighboring counties.

“We will continue to…

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Hackers targeted Fort Worth’s cyber system over Texas’ gender surgery stance, city officials say

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The City of Fort Worth believes it was targeted by cybercriminals because of Texas’ stance on sex reassignment surgery, officials said.

The city’s Information Technology Solutions department learned about a post claiming that the city’s website was hacked on Friday, according to FOX 4 Dallas. They believe the hacker group SeigedSec, who allegedly posted about the incident on Telegram, was behind the attack.

“We have decided to make a message toward the U.S. Government, Texas happens to be one of the largest states banning gender-affirming care and for that we have made Texas a target,” the post allegedly said, according to city officials. 

Earlier this month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill that banned gender transitioning treatment for minors, including sex reassignment surgeries and cross-sex hormones.

TEXAS TEEN, GIRLFRIEND HIRED GUNMAN TO KILL MAN’S JEWELER FATHER, POLICE SAY

Exterior of Fort Worth City Hall

The City of Fort Worth’s Information Technology Solutions Department discovered a post claiming that the city’s website was hacked on Friday. (FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth)

The information that was hacked pertained to work orders in the city’s system, such as invoices, emails between staff and spreadsheets. The IT department said all of the breached information would have been made public via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) order, if requested.

The hackers reportedly stole information from a website that tracked city orders, but no sensitive information was released.

“The City of Fort Worth has confirmed that the posted information did originate from our computer systems. However, the data came from a website that our workers use to manage their maintenance activities, not from the city’s public-facing internet website,” Fort Worth’s IT Solutions Director Kevin Gunn explained at a presser on Saturday.

“[There is] no indication that any other systems were accessed, nor any other evidence of sensitive information such as social security or banking information was accessed or released,” Gunn added.

TEXAS MAN PLEAD GUILTY IN MURDER-FOR-HIRE PLOT TO KILL HIS FATHER

Fort Worth, Texas skyline

The City of Fort Worth held a press conference regarding the hacking incident, claiming that no particularly sensitive information was accessed.…

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Southern District of Texas | Gymnastics coach gets max in disturbing child pornography case

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GALVESTON, Texas – A 55-year-old McKinney resident has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for transportation of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Darren Frank McCoy pleaded guilty Dec. 1, 2022, admitting he was previously a gymnastics and cheerleading coach in Texas and Alabama. He had recorded teens in various stages of undress without their knowledge or consent and had unlawfully transported those images and videos as well as disturbing images of child pornography.

Today U.S. District Judge Jeffery V. Brown ordered him to serve a total of 240 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by a 10 years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard from one woman whom McCoy recorded while she was a minor. She discussed how her life has been seriously impacted by McCoy’s conduct, describing how he stole her childhood experiences without her even knowing it and that she feels rage, anger and sadness and lack of empathy toward him. Another victim described how McCoy sexually abused her from the time she was 12 until the age of 18. She detailed how she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.  McCoy was a gymnastics coach to these women.  

“Darren McCoy is the definition of a predator,” said Hamdani. “We encourage our children to engage in sports, believing that they will be safe when doing so. Instead, these athletes were betrayed. This so-called coach surreptitiously recorded teens and sexually abused a minor for several years. Hopefully, knowing the only bars he will see now are behind a federal prison cell will give his victims some long-awaited peace.”

On Nov. 30, 2019, McCoy had been on a cruise ship which docked in the Galveston Port of Entry. Authorities sent him to secondary inspection after learning of a prior child pornography investigation from 2015.

There, they found images of child pornography on his laptop which led them to seize other electronic devices including his phone which also yielded numerous pornographic images.

They also found nine videos on McCoy’s flash drive which appeared to be taken with a hidden camera. These videos, which appeared to be taken approximately a decade…

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