FBI – ‘Phantom Hacker’ Could Be Draining Missouri Bank Accounts

It's a good practice to regularly check your bank account for errors and/or suspicious activity. That's true now more than ever as the FBI has issued a bulletin that there is a new scam where a hacker could be draining your Missouri bank account right now.

Get our free mobile app

Have you heard of the banking deposit delay issue that's been affecting many major banks? CNBC is reporting that "Bank of America, Chase, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo" are among the banks that have been affected. I can confirm this as this is the message at the top of the US Bank website as of this writing.

I cannot confirm, but find it suspicious that this issue coincides with an alert from the FBI warning of a 'Phantom Hacker' draining bank accounts in Missouri and many other states. Here's how the scam works according to their bulletin:

• A scammer contacts you as a customer support representative from a tech company claiming your bank account has been compromised
• They give you a 'tech support' phone number to call for help
• If you call that number, they provide a download link for 'remote assistance' where they will pretend to run a virus scan which will show fake compromises on your system
• They then offer to 'check your bank account for unauthorized charges'. They tell you a bank representative will contact you.
• That fake bank account representative will tell you to move your money to a different account in micro-transactions over a period of days and tell you to not alert anyone to what you're doing

Those 'new' bank account numbers are the scammers and if you comply with their requests, your bank account will be drained. The FBI added this note about how people are being devastated:

Victims often suffer the loss of entire banking, savings, retirement, and investment accounts under the guise of “protecting” their assets.

The FBI also recommended that you never click on unsolicited pop-up messages or download unknown software on your computer. If you have concerns about your account, contact the bank using a known phone number provided by your bank and never one given to you by a third party.