Bank account hack

[KProuty]

It wasn't McAfee who called. It was a scammer. They likely told her to go to a url, that url downloaded software that allowed them to share control of her computer.

My mom had a "Microsoft employee" call her. Thankfully, she told us about it, we shut off her computer and THREW IT OUT!

We had no idea what they were able to download when they had control. While I was on my way over there, she was actually trying to call Microsoft because she was sure he was an employee. THESE COMPANIES DONT CALL!

I changed all passwords, including router.

Please read this attachment, print it out, and put a physical copy by all vulnerable people's computer and telephone.

 

[Tia]

I'd love to go back to the old days, no online banking, when I read about this happening

 

[rapmarks]

Bank is saying she won’t get her money back. That transaction was pending when I talked to fraud specialist and my sister was at bank trying to stop it.

 

[clifffaith]

Time to broadcast on Nextdoor and anywhere else you can which bank it is that allowed this to happen and isn't helping you after the fact.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

Bank is saying she won’t get her money back. That transaction was pending when I talked to fraud specialist and my sister was at bank trying to stop it.

Please do share the name of the bank as we are hoping to open a bank account in FL this year when we are down in FL. I’m so sorry that your sister got scammed and the bank is refusing to help.

 

[AnnaS]

Wow - I need to check my account to see where and if I am able to make a wire transfer.

These scammers are good. They are always sending links via phone/texting too, leaving messages on our answering machine. I delete, delete, delete.

 

[dioxide45]

Generally wire transfers are final. This is why scammers like them so much. I doubt the choice of bank is going to make a lot of difference here. Fraud is covered by credit cards, but not so much on regular checking account activity. No difference if one were to fall for the old Nigerian check scams. They won't cover a legitimate check that was sent and paid.

 

[mdurette]

Anyone you write a check to has your routing and account number. This is meaningless to the situation here.

Which is the reason why I don't use checks anymore. Won't even use a debit card.

 

[Janann]

I found this website for reporting fraud when I was reading up on the wire procedures for my bank:

Report Fraud

Protect your community by reporting fraud, scams, and bad business practices

reportfraud.ftc.gov

My very large national bank doesn't appear to have a way to block outgoing wires long term. I can block my debit card from being used overseas, and I can get notifications when my account balance goes below a certain amount, but I can't block wires.

This whole incident is really scary, and I'll be interested to know how it happened and how the bank will (hopefully) fix it.

 

[controller1]

Keep the bank activities off the "net" and these potential problems disappear! Could be easier said than done.
.

I believe you may be serious but I find it somewhat naive as our bank has closed over half their branches in the past five years as more and more transactions are handled online. I cannot imagine giving up online banking and going back to handling my transactions via in-person banking and writing checks for my bill pays. I believe I am well-protected from what happened with the OP because 1) I use difficult passwords that are never re-used; 2) I use two-step authentication for wire transfers, cashiers checks and password and/or address changes; and 3) I don't participate in those stupid Facebook surveys that tend to mimic many of the security questions financial institutions use to verify identity.

 

[controller1]

Generally wire transfers are final. This is why scammers like them so much. I doubt the choice of bank is going to make a lot of difference here. Fraud is covered by credit cards, but not so much on regular checking account activity. No difference if one were to fall for the old Nigerian check scams. They won't cover a legitimate check that was sent and paid.

^^^^^ This. Wire transfers are typically impossible to stop once authorized.

 

[elaine]

We need to wire funds in the near future. We’re going to the bank in person to do it. [After confirming over the phone to the main office # the wiring info.] I’m going to ask our bank to disallow any WT UNLESS we present ourselves in person. Don’t know if there’s such a block or not. I assumed the bank would be responsible-but looks like maybe not.
I also don’t understand the mcafee reference. I think that was the hack. We’ve had mcafee for years and gotten hacks from amazon etc and mcafee has never called us either.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

Ok, I'm going to my bank in the morning, and will ensure I set up a two-step authentication for wire transfers. This is scaring the bejeebers out of me

 

[emeryjre]

I did not want to be the first person to say the bank would not replace the funds that were stolen using a wire transfer.

They might be able to get the money back from the bank the money was transferred to, but not likely. The receiving account would be set to notify the thief as soon as the money arrived and it would be moved or withdrawn before any action could be taken.

There is a scam done using sim swapping. I saw it happen to an acquaintance several years ago. You setup two step verification using your phone. The scammer gets the phone company to deactivate your phone and set up your number on the phone that is in the scammer possession. They now have control. You will notice that the cellular part of your phone is no longer active. But they can send emails. change the password at your financial institutions, set up wire transfers and the transactions appear totally legitimate and are carried out. In fact they are verified by the codes sent to "your" phone.

I am not sure of the current status of liability of the phone companies in this process. It takes one of the phone company employees to make the switch, So Law suits were directed at the phone company. I have heard of people losing 6,7 and even 8 figures in these scams.

So again, be aware, be proactive in protecting yourself, and realize that in many cases, you will get no cover from the bank, the phone company, or law enforcement. How any people do you hear about going to jail for this.

 

[presley]

I'm very sorry to hear this. What is the name of the bank? With scams so prevalent, I find the bank extremely irresponsible in not noticing/questioning the unusual behavior.

Also, can you clarify exactly what happened? Did a scammer call your sister claiming to be from McAfee asking her to update something on her system? Did she do a share screen with someone where they can click on her screen? Has she done an independent scan since then and if so what did it show?

EDIT: Here's a link to what came up when I googled McAfee scams: https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/consumer/consumer-threat-reports/how-to-spot-tech-support-scams/

 

[dioxide45]

Wiring funds when they gain access to a user's PC via screen share isn't really the MO of these tech support and refund scammers. For whatever reason they play on emotion instead. They never actually have your user credentials. They are simply accessing your computer via remote access software that they had you download.

source
Online refund scam[edit]
See also: Technical support scam
In an online refund scam, a scammer usually finds potential victims by cold calling phone numbers until there is a responsive victim. The scammer pretends to represent either a well-known large company or a smaller company offering a service of some kind. The scammer tells the victim that the company owes the victim a refund either for a product that the victim supposedly ordered or a service that the company can no longer provide. The scammer will request to access the victim's computer using remote desktop software, and then ask the victim to log in to their online banking website. The scammer blanks the victim's screen using the remote access software, and uses the web development tools of the victim's browser to temporarily edit the online banking webpage to show a transfer into the victim's account. While no transfer has actually taken place, when the scammer restores the victim's ability to see the screen, the edited version of the webpage may convince them that the scammer did indeed transfer money into their account.[4]

After the victim believes that a transfer has gone through, they then discover that the amount supposedly transferred into their account is larger than expected. Using the good faith of the victim against themselves, the scammer often claims that their job is at stake if the victim doesn't return the difference between the intended amount and the supposedly paid out amount. The return is done by wire transfer, money order, or sometimes by store gift card, which the scammer then redeems, making it near impossible for the victim to retrieve their money after being scammed in this way. Some amount of time later, the victim then finds out (possibly by reloading their online banking website, as reloading the page removes the scammer's changes) that the scammer never transferred any money into their account at all, and that any money sent to the scammer has been lost.[4]

Online refund scams can also be considered a form of technical support scam, as they largely follow the same format of connecting to the user's computer with remote access software. In addition, some online refund scams have been specifically targeted at users who had previously fallen victim to technical support scams, claiming that the company which originally conned the victim had gone out of business and could no longer provide the "security services" the victim paid for in the original scam.[5]

YouTube Channels dedicated to scambating and exposing this garbage;
Scammer Payback: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC9EjyMN_hx5NdctLBx5X7w
Kitoga: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm22FAXZMw1BaWeFszZxUKw
Jim Browning: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNG0osIBAprVcZZ3ic84vw

Mark Rober published a video earlier this year by sending some glitter bomb packages to some of the people involved in these scam operations. Often times there are people using AirBnB listings and such to send packages to and they have mules setup to pickup the packages. There is a whole criminal enterprise behind these things.

 

[rapmarks]

I'm very sorry to hear this. What is the name of the bank? With scams so prevalent, I find the bank extremely irresponsible in not noticing/questioning the unusual behavior.

Also, can you clarify exactly what happened? Did a scammer call your sister claiming to be from McAfee asking her to update something on her system? Did she do a share screen with someone where they can click on her screen? Has she done an independent scan since then and if so what did it show?

EDIT: Here's a link to what came up when I googled McAfee scams: https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/consumer/consumer-threat-reports/how-to-spot-tech-support-scams/

I don’t know what she did but I am guessing something like that. What makes me mad is that I was talking to the fraud specialist and she said we were in time and the transfer hadn’t gone through. It should have been stopped

 

[davidvel]

I don’t know what she did but I am guessing something like that. What makes me mad is that I was talking to the fraud specialist and she said we were in time and the transfer hadn’t gone through. It should have been stopped

I'm sorry, but I don't think your sister is telling you the whole story despite losing almost $10,000. Also, where is your maid, and how was her name put in the wire transfer? I'm very sorry for all this that has happened to you, but your thread would be much more helpful to others if all the pertinent facts were revealed, so better advice could be given to the naive. Sounds like your sister authorized this transaction in some way, shape or form.

The fact that a wire "had not gone through" does not mean instructions had not been given. This is not check or credit card. Wires are next to impossible to recall, which is why they are used in multi-million dollar property transactions.

 

[pedro47]

Please contact your local FBI field office, they will refer her to a federal agency that will investigate this issue. Did she file a police report?

 

[AnnaS]

Sometimes the victim does not want to reveal all the details/actual details so they don't feel worse than they already do. Did I miss the bank name somewhere?

 

[presley]

Sometimes the victim does not want to reveal all the details/actual details so they don't feel worse than they already do. Did I miss the bank name somewhere?

This the most difficult part. Someone feeling so much shame that they don't want to tell the whole story out of fear of people pointing out everything that they did wrong. If people could focus more on compassion and not blaming, I think victims of these types of scams would be able to share more information which would protect many others from falling for the same thing.

 

[klpca]

I went online last night to update all of my security settings. I discovered that our primary bank *always* sends a code before sending a wire transfer. The bank name here is irrelevant honestly. Everyone should ask their bank how security is handled and act accordingly.

 

[rapmarks]

I'm sorry, but I don't think your sister is telling you the whole story despite losing almost $10,000. Also, where is your maid, and how was her name put in the wire transfer? I'm very sorry for all this that has happened to you, but your thread would be much more helpful to others if all the pertinent facts were revealed, so better advice could be given to the naive. Sounds like your sister authorized this transaction in some way, shape or form.

The fact that a wire "had not gone through" does not mean instructions had not been given. This is not check or credit card. Wires are next to impossible to recall, which is why they are use in multi-million dollar property transaction.

She has no maid that is what the scammer put on the transfer. My sister has income off about 15000 a year, no maids, a twenty year old car

she got an email from mcafee that her payment was due. Three days later she got another email from mcafee but probably a scammer that 387 was being deducted from her account. She called about it. They must have already known her account number. She had checked her account to see if they had deducted 387

 

[dioxide45]

She has no maid that is what the scammer put on the transfer. My sister has income off about 15000 a year, no maids, a twenty year old car

she got an email from mcafee that her payment was due. Three days later she got another email from mcafee but probably a scammer that 387 was being deducted from her account. She called about it. They must have already known her account number. She had checked her account to see if they had deducted 387

This is classic refund scam. They have you call and say they will refund the $387 but somehow a mistake happens and they cry about how they will lose their job if they don't have you help fix it. They ask for money back as a wire transfer or gift cards.

When she checked the account, was the $387 actually gone, or was the $9700 gone?

 

[pedro47]

Please contact your local police department and your nearest field office of the FBI. TODAY