The FBI warns about new tech support scams!
The FBI reported that tech support scammers have begun impersonating the refund payment gateways of financial institutions in order to collect sensitive information from victims. This gives the fraud greater legitimacy and makes it even more difficult to detect it.
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The FBI warned the public today about scammers who deceive elderly victims in order to gain access to their computers. The criminals impersonate technical service representatives or computer repair service representatives in email messages or phone calls.
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The FBI has announced that it is circulating a new scam in which scammers pose as representatives of a company and try to trick the victim into paying for a service they don’t need. The email includes details about the made-up service, including a price range of $300-$500, in an attempt to create a sense of urgency and urge the victim to contact them.
Scammers exploit the victim by promising a refund if they gain remote access to his computer.
The FBI reported that, since October 2022, scammers have been using scripts (Windows batch files) designed to display what looks like the user interface of refund payment gateways in a command-line window. While tech support scams are not new, this development is concerning.
Although the FBI has not yet disclosed which organizations the hackers have impersonated, BleepingComputer found samples of scripts that impersonate Chase Bank.
BleepingComputer discovered other batch files that can be customized to target different banks by setting Windows.
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However, these scripts are used to collect personal and banking information of the targets (e.g., full name, bank name, postal code, refund amount) that will help fraudsters make unauthorized money transfers from the victims' bank accounts without them knowing.
The FBI constantly reminds citizens that they should not allow unknown entities or individuals to access their computers remotely and not send bank transfers based on instructions from people they have spoken to on the phone or online.
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
