NEW CITY – The Clarkstown Police Department has been alerted to scams where remote access (screen sharing) software is being used to target both personal computers and smartphones. The agency has issued a statement to help recognize the scam.
There are several ways how these crimes take place, including the following example.
A fraudster posing as a customer care executive from Amazon advised the victim that a “Fraud Alert” has been placed on their account. The victim acknowledged that they had an Amazon account but did not have the Amazon app on their phone. The fraudster took this opportunity to direct the victim to download a screen-sharing platform, in this case, it was the Teamviewer Remote Control app. Upon downloading this app a 9 digit code was then populated and was provided to the fraudster. This allowed for the fraudulent caller to gain access to the victim’s screen and possibly even recorded information, such as passwords and account numbers. It was at this point the victim realized it was a scam and hung up. Amazon is not the only company used in these type of crimes, many other popular brand name corporations are used by these criminals to attempt to defraud unsuspected parties.
Clarkstown Police want people to be on alert for the possible scam.
- Do not rely on your caller ID
- If someone calls asking for money or personal info., hang up
- Authentic customer care executives will never ask you to download apps or send codes
- Delete any unknown or unwanted apps from your phone
- Do an online search on the company with the words “scam”, “complaint”
