This phantom attack is back in the news—be careful.
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Republished on January 16 with new reports into AI call hacking and the FBI’s own challenges from Chinese hackers infiltrating U.S. networks.
It starts with a simple call, a message, a popup — but it ends with a potentially life-changing loss. It is a dangerous enough threat that Google has updated Android to protect its users. While there are many warnings about apps you shouldn’t install on your phone or laptop, this is much simpler. You should never install these apps.
The FBI has dubbed this threat “the Phantom Hacker,” and it has made the news again this week, with the bureau warning that “it’s growing rapidly,” that “scammers do not discriminate against anyone — they want money from anyone.” It is also an international threat, as scammers target more people and the cash keeps rolling in.
The concept is simple, the FBI explains: “Scammers impersonate bank reps to convince victims that hackers have infiltrated their financial account. Victims are urged to move their money fast to protect their assets. In reality, there was never a hacker, and the money that was wired is now fully controlled by the scammer.”
There are variations on this theme, such as attacks from scammers claiming to be technical support reps. But the most effective attack is the banking rep. You will end up speaking to a convincing (albeit fake) bank rep who helps you move your cash from the “hacked” account to a safe new account, to stop your money being stolen. You are told this is urgent and is happening now, giving you no time to think. In reality, you are moving your money to an account controlled by the scammer.
While these attacks might just require you to approve a transaction within your banking app, many of the calls “direct the victim to download a software program allowing the scammer remote access to the victim’s computer.”
You’re told this is to stop the imaginary hacker. “The scammer requests the victim open their financial accounts to determine whether there have been any unauthorized charges – a tactic to allow the scammer to determine which financial account is most lucrative for targeting. The scammer informs the victim they will receive a call from that financial institution’s fraud department with further instructions.”
The rules to stay safe are stupidly simple.
- Never install an app when a supposed technical support or banking individual who has reached out to you sends a link or points you to a website.
- Your bank or credit card company will never call and ask for security credentials. If one does, you always have the right to call them back via the usual channels to ensure they work for the institution they claim.
- Never ever move money anywhere on the say-so of someone who has reached out to you by phone. This is never going to be a real solution. If they work for the bank as they say, they can stop the transaction—think it through.
Google has added scam call protection to its latest Android OS to protect you in multiple ways. It can deploy on-device AI to listen in to calls and flag when it suspects a scam — such as a supposed banking rep asking you to make a transaction. And as Android Authority explains, it will also “prevent users from disabling Google Play Protect during voice calls to prevent malefactors from tricking users into installing malicious apps on their devices.”
Regardless, you must never, ever install an app on your phone or laptop if you’ve been asked to do so by a tech support or banking rep on a call. The only exception is when you have reached out directly using usual channels. For example, you might use an app to send photos or run a live video link or diagnose a system fault. But you do not do this when it’s any kind of incoming call or message.
The FBI’s full advice to keep Phantom Hackers at bay is as below; if you think you have been a victim of any such crime you can report this to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) which you can find at www.ic3.gov.
- Do not download software at the request of an unknown individual who contacted you.
- Do not click on unsolicited pop-ups, links sent via text messages, email links, or attachments.
- Do not contact the telephone number provided in a pop-up, text, or email.
- Do not allow an unknown individual who contacted you to have control of your computer.
The FBI is not immune from attacks on its own calls from hackers, although those tend to be more complex and have more far-reaching implications. So it is with the surprising news today that there may have been a high-profile compromise.
The more notable FBI warning for smartphone users in particular in recent weeks was for user to stop sending texts, and turn instead to end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms, This followed the widespread hacking of U.S. networks by China’s Salt Typhoon hacking group. Both the FBI and CISA, the U.S. cyber defence agency, appeared to u-turn in years of pushing back on encrypted communications given the scale of attacks and the compromise of user metadata and some content.
Now, as first reported by Bloomberg on Thursday, the bureaus has seemingly warned agents that some of its call logs stolen from AT&T during the attacks may be able to identify sources and perhaps even informants. It seems that if you have fallen victim to a call scam, then you’re in good company. As another high-profile illustration of ‘it could happen to anybody’ has also made headlines. As CNN reported on Thursday, “even world leaders receive scam calls; just ask Thailand’s prime minister.”
“Thailand’s prime minister has revealed she got a call from an AI system, demanding money in the voice of another famous head of government. Paetongtarn Shinawatra did not reveal who the computer was mimicking, but said she received a message in a voice identical to a well-known leader. ‘The voice was very clear, and I recognized it immediately. They first sent a voice clip, saying something like, ‘How are you? I want to work together,’ and so on,’ Paetongtarn said, adding that whoever sent the message ‘probably used AI to take the voice’ of the unnamed world leader.”
This is on a different level to the bank rep scam, and relies on the use of AI to mimic voices well enough to lure a victim. Coming full circle, the FBI also highlighted this type of frightening new threat in a special advisory last month.
