HONOLULU (KHON2) — It’s one of the most intricate scams out there. The FBI is warning people to be wary of the “phantom hacker,” which they say is significantly impacting senior citizens.
Two-thirds of the $542 million lost to the phantom hacker scam in 2023 were senior citizens.
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The FBI said it’s an evolution of more general tech support scams, layering fake tech support, financial institution and government personas to enhance the trust victims place in the scammers and identify the most lucrative accounts to target.
“It’s very difficult to keep on top of and keep ahead of all the newest trends. The good news is that everything kind of funnels out, if you will, all of these scams. They’re built on the same building blocks, the same cornerstones we’ve seen for decades,” said Cameron Nakashima, Better Business Bureau (BBB)…