Beware the ‘Phantom Hacker': Montana Bank Accounts Under Threat

A few years ago I found myself in a situation that many Americans find themselves in. I was hacked and had my bank account charged for thousands of dollars. A daily occurrence for many victims across the country. But, that is not the worst part. What made it sting more was that my account was drained just days before Christmas. Bringing the holiday cheer to an all-time low in my household.

Thankfully my bank was there to help and reversed many of the charges. Unfortunately, it took over a week to slowly get my money back. Which was too little too late for a single dad celebrating the holiday.

I was a victim of a "Phantom Hacker."

Some Montana banks may not be able to help you in the case of you getting hacked. Because they are also being hacked by internet criminals.

According to CNBC

There was a surge of “outages” reported by banking customers Friday morning, including Bank of America, Chase, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo, according to Downdetector. But the site does not specify the nature of the complaints.

 

The FBI has recently released a warning of a new financial scam that is targeting seniors. A scam that has already drained some victim's retirement and life savings.

According to the FBI report

Scammers are impersonating technology, banking, and government officials in a complex ruse to convince an elderly 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.

 

These days it seems that just about everywhere you turn someone is trying to scam you out of money. It is important that you remind your family, especially Grandma and Grandpa to not disclose any financial information to anyone over the phone, text, or via email. Also, do not download software at the request of an unknown individual who contacted you.