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The retirement board of the Southern Baptist Convention has issued a warning to members about an increasingly common scam known as the “phantom hacker.”
GuideStone, a historic board of the SBC founded in 1918, published a warning last week about the scam, describing it as “a rapidly growing fraud scheme” that has “resulted in billions of dollars in losses nationwide, particularly among older Americans.”
The warning came after GuideStone recently helped identify and prevent a sophisticated fraud attempt targeting one of its own members; the attempt was caught and stopped before any funds were transferred.
The SBC entity defined the “phantom hacker” scheme as one that involves combining fake or impersonated government officials, financial institutions and technology support representatives to convince a victim that their bank accounts, savings or computers have been compromised.
From there, according to GuideStone, the victim is pressured to take their money and move it to an account that is supposedly safe, but is actually overseen by the scammers themselves.
“These scams exploit both fear and trust,” said Brandon Waldeck, director of enterprise risk at GuideStone, as quoted in the warning. “Victims believe they are protecting their savings, securing their accounts or even helping law enforcement investigate serious crimes.”
“In reality, they are transferring their money directly to criminals, and in many cases those funds are never recovered. That’s why recognizing the warning signs before money is transferred is so important.”
To combat the scam, Waldeck recommended that individuals “independently verify who you’re speaking with” before doing anything with their bank accounts or retirement savings.
“If something doesn’t seem right, hang up and contact the institution directly using a trusted phone number from a statement, account document or the institution’s official website,” he added. GuideStone members who receive a suspicious call regarding their account are encouraged to hang up and call GuideStone directly at 1-888-98-GUIDE (1-888-984-8433).
“Remember that caller ID can be spoofed, making a call appear to come from a legitimate organization when it does not. … Government agencies will never instruct individuals to move money to cryptocurrency wallets, gift cards or overseas accounts.”
GuideStone also warned against clicking “unsolicited pop-ups, emails, text messages or links claiming your device has been hacked,” downloading software or giving remote access to a computer “at the request of someone who contacts you unexpectedly,” transferring funds solely based on instructions from an unsolicited contact and trusting an authority figure “who claims that you cannot share details of the supposed hack with anyone, including law enforcement.”
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the phantom hacker scam involves a multiple-step process in which an alleged tech support person will contact a possible victim and tell them that they need to download a virus software to check their computer.
From there, the tech support impersonator will claim that the computer or accounts have been hacked, and that the person needs to transfer their funds to a new “safe” account, possibly through a supposed government body.
Finally, someone impersonating a government official will contact the person, sometimes providing fraudulent credentials to supposedly prove their legitimacy and to pressure the person to transfer their funds soon.
“Victims often suffer the loss of entire banking, savings, retirement and investment accounts under the guise of ‘protecting’ their assets,” explained the FBI. “The U.S. government will never request you send money to them via wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or gift/prepaid cards.”
The FBI encouraged individuals to report any suspected fraud of this nature to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center and to provide “as much information as possible,” including the name of the entity that contacted them, the communication methods used, and details about the bank account where the funds were sent.
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