FBI – ‘Phantom Hacker’ Could Be Draining Michigan Bank Accounts

There is a lot of scamming going on!

Have you heard about the banking deposit delay issue that is affecting several major banks in the country?

Well, let me explain!

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Major Banks Affect By Processing Issue

CNBC has reported that several major banks are been affected by an industry-wide processing issue.

"There was a surge of “outages” reported by banking customers Friday morning, including Bank of America, Chase, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo."

However, at this time, the Downdetector website does not explain what the complaints entail.

“We’re aware of an industry-wide technical issue impacting some deposits for Nov. 3,” Lee Henderson, vice president of public affairs and communications at U.S. Bank, told CNBC in a statement. “Customer accounts remain secure, and balances will be updated when deposits are received.”

However, this is extremely suspicious that at the same time this is taking place, the FBI also issue their own warning.

Phantom Hacker Draining Michigan Bank Accounts

The FBI is warning people about a "phantom hacker."

According to the FBI San Francisco's press release,

"Scammers are impersonating technology, banking, and government officials in a complex ruse to convince an elderly 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."

But in actuality, there was never a hacker, and the money is now being controlled by the scammers.

It has gotten so bad that some victims have had their entire life savings stolen from them.

How Does This 'Phantom Hacker' Scam Work?

Luckily, the FBI also shared this information so that people would not get caught by the scammers.

1. A scammer contacts you as a customer support representative from a tech company claiming your bank account has been compromised.
2. They give you a 'tech support' phone number for you to call for help.
3. If you call that number, they provide a download link for 'remote assistance' where they will pretend to run a virus scan, which will show fake compromises on your system
4. They will offer to 'check your bank account for unauthorized charges'. Once they 'do,' they tell you a bank representative will contact you.
5. That fake bank account representative will tell you to move your money to a different account in micro-transactions over a period of days and tell you to not alert anyone to what you're doing.

How Do You Protect Yourself From This Scam?

The FBI shared several ways that you can protect yourself from this phantom hacker scam.

• Do not click on any unsolicited pop-ups. This includes links sent through text messages, email links, and/or any attachments.
• Do not contact the telephone number that is provided in these pop-ups, texts, or emails.
• Do not download software at the request of the impersonator.
• Do not allow the unknown person to have control of your computer or electronic device.
• REMEMBER, the U.S. Government will NEVER request you to send money to them through wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or gift/prepaid cards.

You can read the entire press release here.