Anybody can be hacked, even those who are tech-savvy. An ethical hacker targeted a 60 Minutes employee to show how easy it is to scam people.
When a 60 Minutes staffer got a call that appeared to be from correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, she picked up.
The woman behind the call was not Alfonsi, but Rachel Tobac, an ethical hacker and CEO of data protection firm Social Proof Security. Tobac, who advises companies and private citizens on their vulnerabilities, was hired by 60 Minutes to show how easy it is to use information found online to scam someone.
During an interview about digital theft, Tobac played back the recording for the 60 Minutes staffer and Alfonsi to share what she'd done.Elizabeth is a tech-savvy millennial, but Tobac said anybody can be hacked. A man pretending to be an attorney then got on the phone and walked Monahan through what she needed to do to keep her grandson out of jail. She rushed to a bank and withdrew cash. Minutes after Monahan got home with the money, a courier showed up to take it. A doorbell camera recorded Monahan on the phone with the scammer as she handed off the money.
Monahan is not alone. The Federal Trade Commission reports scams skyrocketed 70% during the pandemic when seniors, home alone, went online to shop or keep in touch with family. Retired scientist Steve Savage lost $14,000 after he opened a fake email purportedly from the Geek Squad. The charge listed in the email was higher than Savage expected, so he called the listed customer service number in the email. A scammer picked up and posed as a Geek Squad representative. Ester Maestre, a retired nurse, was scammed, too.
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