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

(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…