Beware the Phantom Hacker Scam or Potentially Lose Thousands

The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office is warning about the "Phantom Hacker" scam that could cost big money.

Several older residents have reported falling for the scam in which a call is received from someone posing as a computer technician who says their computer has been hacked which puts their financial accounts at risk. A second person will pose as an official from a financial or government institution and convince the person to move their funds in order to keep them safe.

The account the funds are moved into are really under control of the scammer. In some cases, the scammer convinces a person to buy valuable items like gold and send a courier to pick the items up for safekeeping.

"These incidents caused the victims substantial monetary loss," Attorney General John Formella said.

Formella said that that financial institutions and legitimate law enforcement officials will never:

• Tell you to purchase valuable items, such as gold, and urge you to entrust those items to them for safe keeping.
• Send unsolicited communications claiming that your computer or device has been compromised.
• Call unsolicited and pressure you to purchase valuable items, pay money, or provide personal identifying information.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via X (Twitter) @DanAlexanderNH