A person lost thousands of dollars recently when scammers exploited the person through the person’s Smart TV, Danville police said this week.
Police said the victim launched the Amazon app on their TV and received an error message and a phone number to call for service.
When the victim called the number, he or she was told to download the QuickSupport and Cash App programs, according to police.
When those were installed, the criminals assumed control of the victim’s phone via the QuickSupport app and stole thousands of dollars through money-transfer apps Cash App and Zelle, police said.
Usually when a customer is experiencing technical problems, he or she will be sent a code, according to police. With the code, the customer can check online for the nature of the problem.
Amazon will not ask customers to download payment apps, police said.
Did this person have their banking info on their phone? If so, that’s a bad idea. People should do like they were doing before home computers and the smart phone was invented, do your banking in person.
Scammers are way ahead of us common folk in technology. This is why I won’t use any cash apps on my phone and I have a strong background in large scale computers. I have never written a program for a phone or smart TV.
All of us get the various technology scam robocalls; (we found a virus, your I-cloud account, Amazon account, your Social Security number, you owe the IRS, etc.), because enough people fall for it to make it profitable.
It is bad enough our phones spy on us but the phone makers do not do much to protected us.
Concerning privacy, read the End User License Agreement (EULA) before you agree. Why does the flashlight app need access to your contacts and photos? Every app I looked at wants that access and more. Read the Next Door Terms of Service. They are a data aggregator and will sell anything they learn about you. They will even track your location if you give them your cell phone number.
Huh!…..sounds like a Dumb TV to me!
I still don’t get how people fall for these scams. Disappointing but you have to be pretty gullible to fall for anything like this. Anything related to gift cards/remote control/teamviewer is a scam. No questions asked.
Wow. Last week there were residents of Alamo / Danville who had $40,000 stolen from their account after they bought two new Apple iPhones……. and a supposid company rep called them to ‘help them’ set up the phones and stole their info. Apparently this happening quite a bit but apple is keeping it hushed. Now Amazing, huh?
I’m glad I’m not into all the high tech stuff. Simple computer yes simple smartphone yes. Nothing past that. I know from my Lincoln car which has ‘Microsoft sync’ , it almost never does when I tried to tell it. Brother just do it manually myself.
Congress needs to remove Big Tech’s legal protection. They have enough money now that a lawsuit is not going to wipe them out. They spend very little to protect their users because it is not cost effective.
Facebook was hacked for hundreds of millions users info while spending 25 million on Mark’s personal security. I have read that is more money than is spent on Facebook security.
LG VX8300 flip-phone master race here. And we don’t own a TV, smart or otherwise.
Never have these problems.
I would add I am not a Luddite. I’ve been a software engineer for more than 30 years and I know what is possible and what is vulnerable.
This is why I don’t own a smartphone or a smart TV.
If I did own a smartphone, I would delete all the apps and never use any built-in app other than the browser. And I would not keep any sensitive data on the phone. I would never use pay-by-phone apps.
People like the convenience of using their phone for everything, but with convenience comes vulnerability.
For those with smart TVs, it would be a good idea to have a router capable of measuring the Internet bandwidth used by each connected device. I have heard some smart TVs send a stream of data home 24/7 and can put a large dent in one’s bandwidth.
It’s adding insult to injury to have to pay for the data the smart TV requires to spy on you.
A fool and his money are soon parted.