Tag Archive for: woman

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…

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$32k gone and $12k in debt: Woman falls for malware scam while buying fish online, Singapore News


Lured in by an advertisement for grouper fish fillets on Facebook, this woman had the misfortune of falling for a scam, hook, line and sinker.

A woman surnamed Qiu, 58, was contacted by a ‘salesperson’ through WhatsApp on Aug 25 after clicking on the advertisement, Shin Min Daily News reported on Friday (Sept 22).

Qiu was instructed to download an application called “Grab&Go” in order to place her order for the fish.

Although she had her suspicions at first, Qiu decided to go ahead with the ‘purchase’ when she realised the app didn’t ask for her bank information.

Instead, all it required was her name, address and mobile phone number.

That night, however, her phone was suddenly inoperable. She assumed it was out of battery, and tried charging it.

But when she did a routine check on her bank account two days later, Qiu discovered that she only had a few dollars left across three bank accounts.

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Additionally, she found herself some $12,200 in debt on two credit cards.

Qiu immediately reported this incident to the police and approached the bank for information – as it turned out, $32,287 had been withdrawn from her three accounts on Aug 25, she said.

One of the accounts is a joint account shared with her 16-year-old daughter, Qiu told Shin Min. That account now only has $3.06 left of the original $6,000.

“I had put my daughter’s ang bao money, scholarship money and so on in this account, which can then be used to repay my daughter’s insurance loan. 

“There are only four years left on the loan, so how can I bear to terminate it?”

Qiu also reportedly sought help from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

However, she was told they had no way of helping her retrieve her money.

New variant of malware scams

In a press release by the police on Thursday, they announced their observation of a “new variant of malware scams”. 

Victims in this form of malware scam are contacted by ‘salespeople’ via messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and told to download an application.

Internet banking credentials can then be stolen via a keylogger in these applications, allowing scammers to access victims’ bank accounts and perform unauthorised transactions.

“In the…

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Woman loses over $20k from credit card and bank accounts after downloading third-party app


SINGAPORE – A food delivery order that was supposed to cost $58 ended up costing Ms Lim (not her real name) over $20,000 after scammers took control of her Android phone and banking details remotely.

Ms Lim, 54, lost almost $20,500 from a credit card account and two DBS savings accounts in hours after she clicked on a link to download a third-party app, following which scammers then increased her credit limits and siphoned out all her money.

She had been looking for healthy tingkat (tiffin) meal delivery options for her elderly parents, and on July 26, she made an inquiry after seeing a Facebook ad from a company called Healthy Box.

The ad appeared to be from local caterer Grain, whom she had ordered from before. Hence, she was not suspicious.

She contacted the poster of the advertisement via Facebook messenger, after which the conversation continued on WhatsApp at around noon that day.

After the person confirmed they were from Grain, they sent her a link via WhatsApp to download an app – one that she had not used before – to make the order. She then installed the app, which she said looked exactly like the mobile-enabled version of Grain’s site.

When asked to make payment of $58 via PayNow to another number, she received a message saying that the vendor had not installed PayNow and that she could send the vendor a link to do so.

She then messaged the person to inform them that their PayNow was not working and asked them to check on it, but did not receive a reply.

Ms Lim, who works in events and marketing, went back to her online meetings. About 90 minutes later, when taking a lunch break, she noticed that her phone felt “burning hot”.

When she switched it on, the phone showed a blank screen and it had automatically performed a factory reset. Not suspecting anything, she followed the sequence to reset the phone and set it up again, as one would with a new phone.

Later that day, when she attempted to use her ATM card to withdraw money at around 6pm, she realised that her bank balance was zero.

She called the DBS customer service hotline, and an officer confirmed that $20,493.87 had been transferred out of her account.

A few days later, she went to…

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Woman throws computer monitors, scanners in outburst at airport ticket counter


Things got turbulent — well before takeoff.

A woman was caught on cellphone video going ballistic at a Mexico City International Airport ticket counter Tuesday when a Volaris airline employee informed her there was an issue with her flight reservation.

“A passenger reacted violently when she was notified that she had to complete the purchase of her flight,” Volaris said in a statement to The Post on Thursday.

“Apparently the lady had tried to make the payment with several credit cards without success, causing our fraud prevention system to issue a security alert.”

María Guadalupe, 56, is being accused of damaging equipment as well as disturbing the peace for allegedly slamming four computer monitors and four handheld barcode scanners to the ground, the Daily Mail reports.


María Guadalupe was taken into police custody.
María Guadalupe was taken into police custody.
Twitter / @MiguelElBlacky

Woman goes berserk at Mexican airport ticket counter
Guadalupe is accused of destroying equipment at a ticket counter at the Mexico City International Airport.
Twitter / @MiguelElBlacky

Auxiliary Police agents placed Guadalupe in custody, according to Volaris, which noted “a reparation agreement was reached for the damages.”

The Post contacted representatives for the airport and the police for comment.

The situation apparently took off when Guadalupe allegedly asked a Volaris worker for a refund.

“If you don’t want to, don’t give me the money back. I don’t give a f—k. But that’s going to cost you,” the woman shouted in Spanish at an agent as she stood atop the airline’s baggage scale.

“Don’t give it to me. But you pay for that.”

The woman can be seen throwing computer monitors and barcode scanners to the ground.


María Guadalupe destroyed a ticket counter at Mexico City International Airport.
Cellphone footage captured the equipment damage.
Twitter / @MiguelElBlacky

In its statement, Volaris said its “ambassadors on site activated the corresponding security protocol with the support of the airport authority.”

The airline called the woman’s behavior “erratic and unfortunate.”

“For Volaris, the safety of its customers is of the utmost importance,” the airline’s statement read.

“For this reason, Volaris works closely with the authorities to permanently…

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