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A cybersecurity expert warns that a scam that has been used to drain life or retirement accounts has become “devastating” for the elderly.
FBI Los Angeles on July 15 poster A reminder on X on the scam of Pirates Phantom, which cost the Americans more than a billion dollars for at least 2024, according to the agency. The FBI said that the scam targets the elderly and warns that the victims could lose their “life economies”.
THE The scam works In three phases: a “technological support impostor”, “financial institution impostor” and an “American government impostor”.
In the first phase, a technological support impostor will contact the victims via a text, a telephone call or an e-mail, then ask him to download a program allowing remote access to the crook to his computer. Then, the crook asks the victims to open its financial accounts to “determine if there have been unauthorized accusations”, which, according to the FBI, “is the most lucrative for targeting”. Then, the crook choosing a target account, then will indicate to the victim that he will receive a call for other instructions from the bank’s “fraud service” hosting his account.
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The FBI warns the Americans of a scam targeting the elders. (Getty Images)
In the second phase, the impostor of the financial institution will then call the victim and inform them that their funds have been “accessible by a foreign pirate” and must be transferred to a “safe” third party account. The victims are then invited to send the money by bank transfer, in cash or in cryptocurrency, and are invited to send “several transactions over a period of days or months”.
In the third phase of the scam, the victim could be contacted by someone who pretended to be an employee of the American government, who encourages the individual to move his funds to an “alias” account for protection.
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Pete Nicoletti said families should have discussions with their loved ones on the Phantom pirate scam. (Getty Images / Adamkaz)
Pete Nicoletti, director of information security in Check Point, told Fox News Digital that the scam had become “devastating” for the elderly, and said that families should have discussions with their loved ones to protect them. Nicoletti said the crooks are now personal with some of their tactics, targeting people with specific interests they have.
Families should discuss the means for the elderly to protect themselves from scams, said Pete Nicoletti, director of information security in Check Point. (istock)
“The family should have discussions for dinner on this subject,” said Nicoletti. “But, you know, the seniors publish things on Facebook as if they were a Corvette collector. Criminals actually use artificial intelligence to search for this type of characteristics and profiles. And they will send you an email or a message saying:” Hey, that Corvette you ordered a month ago is now available. Corvette Collector.
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More than a billion dollars were taken from the elders following the Phantom pirate scam. (istock)
Nicoletti said the victims rarely recovered their money, even after reporting it to the authorities.
“It’s devastating,” he said. “If [victims report their funds stolen] The same day, there is a chance. I think it is in the percentages to a figure. You know, 10, 15%. I heard that I heard about people recovering their money. If it has delayed beyond that, it is not good. Let’s go. “”
