What a week it has been! My iPhone was hacked on April 23 and it all started with a email from PayPal showing a charge of $909 went through my checking account. I called the fraud number provided in the email and was on the phone for over an hour with that customer service rep and , supposedly, the charges were backed out. In reality, the person I was speaking to was the hacker.
Immediately after hanging up from that call, I received a call from my credit union fraud department and they were already aware of the charge and had tracked the charges to a local Marshall’s store, they were coming from a Chinese iPhone 13 mini. My phone was hacked and they had all account information that was in apps on my phone. The person stayed on the phone with me for over 5 hours, directing me to drive to that store, attempt to make a purchase of a gift card, and they were tracking every attempt to get at my card. He explained that hackers not only go for money but also for any information that is on your phone (accounts, addresses, etc) and they are seriously attacking seniors these days. Needless to say, I should have been suspect but I fell for it - hook, line, and sinker.
While on the phone with the fraud control person, I was directed to several stores where I purchased gift cards, then back in my car, provided them with photos of the cards - front, back, and the receipt, then instructed to cut them up in many pieces. Over and over, I was assured that my accounts would be replenished and I would not be out the money from these transactions. Fingers crossed that this person is truly a fraud control person and not a hacker, he is very thorough and reassuring - nope - he was the hacker and by that time, all of my available funds were used to pay for the gift cards that were not available to me to use as I had destroyed them as I was instructed.
I am much smarter than this and I’m sick just thinking of how vulnerable I let myself be and now I have this huge mess to clean up and to try to recover the money that I lost - possible through my credit union or also a claim that I will make with the MN Dept of Commerce.
