The FBI is warning that a new AI-assisted scam has become “devastating” for elderly Americans, with bank and savings accounts being drained.

The sophisticated multi-part scam is often used to go after retirement accounts and savings held by senior citizens.

The Los Angeles FBI Office recently urged the public to be aware of this advanced scam, as more and more seniors are falling victim.

The newest version of the ‘Phantom Hacker’ Scam operates in a 3-part attack, according to this social media post from the FBI in LA:

With the advancement of AI tools, the criminals targeting American seniors aren’t just using AI to produce a friendly fake voice…

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They are actually using AI to scoop data from the internet and social media accounts in order to produce custom scams for individuals.

If Grandpa is a Texas Ranger fan, posting stats or photos from the last game…

Or if Grandma is into gardening and canning — the AI-assisted scam will likely know those details, and in some scenarios those personal details are often used to give the scam an added air of legitimacy.

The multi-part scam is known to unfold in three distinct parts, according to Fox News:

A cybersecurity expert warns that a scam that has been used to drain entire life savings or retirement accounts has become “devastating” for seniors.

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.

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Pete Nicoletti, chief information security officer at Check Point, told Fox News Digital the scam has become “devastating” for seniors, and said families need to have discussions with their loved ones to keep them protected. Nicoletti said scammers are now getting personal with some of their tactics, targeting people with specific interests they have.

Nicoletti said that victims rarely get their money back, even after reporting it stolen to authorities.

“It’s devastating,” he said. “If [victims report their funds stolen] the same day, there’s a chance. I think it’s in the single digit percentages. It’s, you know, 10, 15%. I’ve heard, I have heard of people getting their money back. If it delayed beyond that, it’s not good. It’s gone.”

Though this scam often takes place over a voice phone call, there are different versions.

Some have been known to be initiated on a pc, and some are initiated through email or text.

Just a few days ago, FBI Boston announced they had taken down a ‘transnational’ crime group running a call center for running these scams.

Check out that press briefing here:

Here’s the full text of that post, explaining their takedown of one of these sophisticated scam rings:

Hundreds of elderly victims here in New England and across the U.S. have lost millions of dollars due to grandparent scams.

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This week, FBI Boston joined
@dmanews1
to announce charges against 13 people in connection with a sophisticated transnational elder fraud ring, based in the Dominican Republic, that allegedly tricked hundreds of elderly victims into handing over their life savings by pretending to be a grandchild in distress.

Watch Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks explain how the FBI and our partners in the Dominican Republic shut them down.

These people are literally operating ‘call centers’ — facilities no different than a large company might run to field customer service questions or tech support.

These are big operations.  And they’re ripping off BILLIONS of dollars from Americans — many of them elderly Americans with their life savings disappearing as a result.

Here’s more on exactly how these scams play out according to this FBI public service announcement:

“Phantom Hacker” Scams Target Senior Citizens and Result in Victims Losing their Life Savings

The FBI is warning the public of a recent nationwide increase in “Phantom Hacker” scams, significantly impacting senior citizens. This Phantom Hacker scam is an evolution of more general tech support scams, layering imposter tech support, financial institution, and government personas to enhance the trust victims place in the scammers and identify the most lucrative accounts to target. Victims often suffer the loss of entire banking, savings, retirement, or investment accounts under the guise of “protecting” their assets. Between January and June 2023, 19,000 complaints related to tech support scams were submitted to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), with estimated victim losses of over $542 million. Almost 50% of the victims reported to IC3 were over 60 years-old, comprising 66% of the total losses. As of August 2023, losses have already exceeded those in 2022 by 40%.

The Scam
Phase 1 – Tech Support Imposter

A scammer posing as a tech or customer support representative from a legitimate company contacts the victim through a phone call, text, email, or a pop-up window on the victim’s computer and instructs the victim to call a number for “assistance.”

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Once the victim calls the 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 computer 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 the scammer uses to determine which financial account is most lucrative for targeting. The scammer chooses an account to target and tells the victim they will receive a call with further instructions from the fraud department of the respective financial institution hosting that account.

Phase 2 – Financial Institution Imposter

A scammer posing as a representative of the financial institution mentioned in phase 1, such as a bank or a brokerage firm, contacts the victim. The scammer falsely informs the victim their computer and financial accounts have been accessed by a foreign hacker and the victim must move their money to a “safe” third-party account, such as an account with the Federal Reserve or another US Government agency.

The scammer directs the victim to transfer money via a wire transfer, cash, or cryptocurrency, often directly to overseas recipients. The scammer may instruct the victim to send multiple transactions over a span of days or months.

The scammer tells the victim to not inform anyone of the real reason they are moving their money.

Phase 3 – US Government Imposter

The victim may also be contacted by a scammer posing as an employee at the Federal Reserve or another US Government agency. If the victim becomes suspicious of the government imposter, the scammer may send an email or a letter on what appears to be official US Government letterhead to legitimize the scam.

The scammer continues to emphasize the victim’s funds are “unsafe” and they must be moved to a new “alias” account for protection until the victim concedes.

Even before the advent of AI, scammers were targeting senior citizens in particular.

We’ve all heard the horror stories of false stories and concocted jail calls… claiming to need help.

Only to rip off a well-meaning grandparent.

Here’s a few tips on how to keep that from happening I took from the previously referenced FBI scam alert:

Tips to Protect Yourself

  • Do not click on unsolicited pop-ups, links sent via text messages, or email links or attachments.
  • Do not contact the telephone number provided in a pop-up, text, or email.
  • Do not download software at the request of an unknown individual who contacted you.
  • Do not allow an unknown individual who contacted you to have control of your computer.

The US Government will never request you send money via wire transfer to foreign accounts, cryptocurrency, or gift/prepaid cards.

The FBI requests victims report these fraudulent or suspicious activities to their local FBI field office and the FBI IC3 at www.ic3.gov. Be sure to include as much information as possible.

  • The name of the person or company that contacted you.
  • Methods of communication used, to include websites, emails, and telephone numbers.
  • The bank account number(s) where the funds were wired to and the recipient’s name(s).

Just last week a Philadelphia woman came forward — with her identity concealed — to spread the word about the scam she fell victim to.

In this case, she lost a whopping $800,000 dollars to the scammers!

Listen how incredibly sophisticated her account of the scammers ability to keep her strung along while the scam played out:

It’s easy to think that “I” couldn’t be taken in by these scams.

But over and over again… people get taken for all their worth.

And as I’ve said, AI brings this to an entirely new level.

Be careful out there folks — the criminals are getting more desperate… but they’re also getting BETTER TOOLS!

Maybe have that talk with Grandma and Grandpa, just to plant the seed.

And don’t forget about staying cautious yourself.

After all… one of the best ways to get taken in is to think you CAN’T be fooled to begin with!

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

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