Subj : How My Grandmother Lost $18,000 (scam)
To   : All
From : warmfuzzy
Date : Tue Sep 10 2024 22:49:40

How my Grandmother Lost $18,000 CAD
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It wasn't a trojan, or spy ware, or even a physical attack.  The attack used 
common remote access software used to root her computer.  AnyDesk and 
TeamViewer were found to be installed and active on her computer.  They also 
used phishing to pretend that they were the police and that they needed her 
to purchase many GooglePlay Cards for some purpose that is not immediately 
understood.  She had early dementia at that time, so the fact that she would 
do things without thinking it through is probable.  It was a store clerk that 
called her out for doing something suspicious and refused to sell any more 
cards to her.  The police eventually got involved.  However, as the hack 
seemed to be coming from India and Canada doesn't have police enforcement 
agreements with "small" hacks.  We don't have that kind of agreement with 
them.  In the end, the scammers got away with it, my grandma lost $18,000 CAD,  and all her emails and the evidence of what happened was eliminated.  The only  thing that remained was the fact that her bank account was less by almost  twenty thousand dollars.

When my parents got on the phone with the scammers, my dad made it clear that 
what they were doing had been found out.  They responded with the statement 
that they couldn't do anything about it and my parents could go [expletive[ 
themselves.

The scammers had no scruples about what they were doing.  They saw my 
grandmother as someone who had too much money and that the monetary system was 
unfair, that they had the right to more money for themselves.  It was, in 
their sight, sort of like the redistribution of wealth.  Their view was 
somewhat like they were Robin Hood (like the book), except there was no giving 
money to the poor, but keeping it to themselves.

Things like this are happening more often.  As home there is at least one scam 
every two weeks, and at times we have had several in one single week.  They 
somehow route their calls over VOIP (voice of Internet protocol) in such a way  that they can't easily be traced back.  It isn't fair, it isn't just, and it  is the exploiting of people with weak minds or cognitive problems, or simply  an average person who gets sucked into one of these schemes as the actors are  just that good at their story telling.  A friend of mine is a member of a  group that goes about scamming the scammers.  I don't know much about it as its  none of my business, but I'm glad that he is doing what he does.  What do you  people think about this?  As this is an international forum there will be  people from various parts of the world online here.  So I'm interested in your  perspectives on this matter.  Please let me know your opinions.

Cheers!
-warmfuzzy


P.S. a take-away from this lesson is that commercial software that is good 
(TeamViewr and AnyDesk) can be re-purposed for evil.  So on your boxes, unless  you absolutely need remote control software not to have that kind of thing  active.  It may be installed, however keep it on a tight leech by deactivating  it when not using it and activating it only while in use.

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