According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website, the following are clues that someone has stolen a victim’s identity information:

1. The victim sees withdrawals from his or her bank account that cannot be explained.
2. The victim doesn’t get bills or other mail.
3. Merchants refuse to honor the victim’s checks.
4. Debt collectors call about debts that are not the victim’s debts.
5. The victim finds unfamiliar accounts or charges on the victim’s credit report.
6. Medical providers bill the victim for services the victim did not receive.
7. The victim’s health care provider rejects legitimate medical claim(s) because the records show that the victim has reached the benefits limit.
8. A health plan won’t cover the victim because medical records show a condition that the victim does not have.
9. The victim experiences an unusual delay in getting a tax refund (IRS suspects ID theft).
10. The victim gets an IRS notice of duplicate tax return filing, unreported income, or duplicate dependents.

Scammers are impersonating technology, banking, and government officials in a complex ruse to convince a typically older 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. In reality, there was never any foreign hacker, and the money is now fully controlled by the scammers. Some victims are losing their entire life savings.

The FBI has observed repeated behavior by criminals involved in “The Phantom Hacker” scam. The ruse is often perpetrated in three major steps:

During Cybersecurity Awareness month, we are sharing some ideas to consider to limit your risk.

1. Share less online- not just social media.  Be mindful of the forms you fill out on websites (avoid inserting optional information like your phone number and middle name), create a throwaway email address for subscriptions (this is how your info could be sold on the dark web), avoid shared playlists, folders, or albums (they could get hacked), and protect your wi-fi password (your router handles sensitive information like your passwords and financial info).