Tag Archive for: Paso
‘The Phantom Hacker’ Torments Residents of El Paso, Texas
(TNS) — El Paso is warning the public of a new scam dubbed “The Phantom Hacker.” Scammers are impersonating technology, banking, and government officials in a complex ruse to convince a typically older 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. Some victims are losing their entire life savings, a press release said.
“These scammers are cold and calculated. They are targeting older members of our community who are particularly mindful of potential risks to their nest eggs. The criminals are using the victims’ own attentiveness against them,” said Special Agent in Charge John S. Morales, in the release. “By educating the public about this alarming new scam, we hope to get ahead of these scammers and prevent any further victimization.”
“The Phantom Hacker” Scam: How It Works
The FBI has observed repeated behavior by criminals involved in “The Phantom Hacker” scam. The ruse is often perpetrated in three major steps:
Step 1 — Tech Support Imposter
In the first step, a scammer posing as customer support representative from a legitimate technology company initiates contact with the victim through a phone call, text, email, or a pop-up window on their computer and instructs the victim to call a number for “assistance.”
Once the victim calls the phone number, a scammer directs the victim to download a software program allowing the scammer remote access to the victim’s computer. The scammer pretends to run a virus scan on the victim’s computer and falsely claims the victim’s computer either has been or is at risk of being hacked.
Next, 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…
El Paso police officer accused of attempted visual recording in women’s locker room
EL PASO, Texas (El Paso Matters) — An El Paso police officer is facing felony charges for the second time in two years, with the latest charge alleging he was involved in an attempted visual recording in the women’s locker room at the police Westside Regional Command Center.
Gilberto Hilario Silva, 28, is charged with one count each of attempted invasive visual recording, indecency with a child by exposure, breach of computer security and unauthorized use or release of criminal information. The first two charges are felonies; the other two are misdemeanors or felonies, depending on circumstances.
Silva was arrested Thursday and released on bonds totaling $50,000 the same day. He did not respond to requests for comment from El Paso Matters to his phone or email address.
El Paso Matters began inquiring about Silva’s charges on Thursday, but police did not respond to requests for information. Instead, they issued a vague news release Friday evening.
The news release said that on May 1, the police Special Investigations Unit “investigated an allegation of Invasive Visual Recording that occurred in the female locker room of the Westside Regional Command Center.”
No other details were provided. Police did not respond to questions about what led to charges of indecency with a child, breach of computer security and unauthorized use or release of criminal information.
At the time the investigation began, Silva was awaiting trial on a felony charge of assault of a pregnant person, court records show. Police did not respond to questions about whether he was on active duty and working at the regional command at the time.
The news release said he is currently on administrative leave, but police didn’t respond to questions about when the leave began. He has been an officer three years, according to the news release.
Silva was charged on March 10, 2021, with assault on a pregnant person. The felony charge was dismissed on May 31, 2022, according to court records. That was 30 days after police began the investigation into the invasive recording at the Westside Regional Command.
An indictment accused Silva of grabbing and pushing a woman he knew…
El Paso Shooting: 8chan Website Dropped By Security Firm After Attack – NPR
- El Paso Shooting: 8chan Website Dropped By Security Firm After Attack NPR
- 8chan is struggling to stay online in wake of El Paso massacre CNET
- 8chan down: Forum tried to get back online through BitMitigate, but another company, Voxility, appears to have blocked it CBS News
- Behind the Scenes, 8chan Scrambles to Get Back Online The New York Times
- 8chan suffers intermittent outages after Cloudflare drops service NBCNews.com
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