Editorial: ‘A multitude of malicious actors’
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“Today’s cyber landscape is threatened by a multitude of malicious actors who have the tools to conduct large-scale fraud schemes, hold our money and data for ransom, and endanger our national security.”
That’s according to a 2023 FBI report on internet crime that was quoted this month in The (Cumberland, Md.) Times-News, reporting on a woman from Garrett County, Md., who lost her life savings to a scam that started online.
The woman recounted the steps of the scam:
• She couldn’t log into her Google account on her new cellphone, so she went online and found a phone number purportedly for “account recovery help.”
• She called the number and reached a man who said he could help and took down her information. He said her phone had been hacked and used to purchase child pornography.
• The man told her that records showed she had approved the removal of $27,800 from her bank account after the hack. He transferred her to a supposed “Federal Trade Commission expert” who told her that she had to protect her money by going to her bank and withdrawing it in cash.
• She went to a bank branch and withdrew $15,000 — the maximum it had available in $100 bills. The “FTC expert” walked her through the process of depositing the cash at a bitcoin machine. The woman went to another bank, withdrew more cash and deposited another $10,000 into the bitcoin machine.
• The “FTC expert” told the woman to go back to the first bank branch and ask to have the bitcoin deposits transferred back to her account. When the bank manager told her, “We don’t do that,” she put her phone to her ear to talk to the “FTC expert” again. But she was gone.
“That’s when I knew,” the woman said. The entire process, starting when she called the supposed Google support number, had been a scam, and she had just lost $25,000.
She shared her story in hopes it would help others avoid falling victim to the same scam.
“I wasn’t hacked,” she said. “I was scammed. I actually gave them the money. I thought I was smarter than that. … In hindsight, it feels idiotic.”
The scammers’ psychologically effective strategy appears to be to scare and cajole a target into compliance by putting him or her on the back foot, creating a false sense of urgency, and promising or implying that the scammers can make the problem go away.
With that in mind, we’re repeating a piece of advice offered by Cambria County District Attorney Greg Neugebauer when a rash of scams were reported in this region in March: “Scammers often use the threat of arrest or imprisonment, and urgency as a means to get you to fall victim to their ploy.
“Take a deep breath, slow down and think if what you are being told makes sense. If you are not sure, tell the person you will call them back, and then call a trusted friend or family member. If you believe someone is scamming you, then call the police.”
— The Tribune-Democrat (Johnstown)