New Hampshire woman says hacked phone led to theft of thousands of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency – WMUR Manchester

A New Hampshire woman who had thousands of dollars stolen from a cryptocurrency account is sharing her story to prevent others from being hacked.The woman, who asked to just use her first name, Michelle, said she thought she had done everything she needed to do to stay safe, but her hacking nightmare began with a simple click on her phone."It said, 'Samsung account update,' and I pressed it, and I think that's what it was," she said. "Within probably an hour, my phone went down."Michelle said her cell service provider got her phone working, but when she logged into one of four cryptocurrency accounts, it was empty."It's about $15,000 that's gone, just like that," she said.She asked her provider to restore emails that might have been deleted, and that's when she saw withdrawals."He would know my account screen name, forgot password, they'd email the password, and then he got it and he got in," Michelle said.Michelle said the hacker couldn't get into two other accounts but got access to a third, which is now frozen. He sent her a ransom note, and thousands of dollars more are now in limbo.Experts said Michelle's click likely installed malicious code."And when you do that, you then open up your phone to be available to whoever from wherever for whatever," said James Gorman, of Cyber Defense Media Group. "She got hit by the equivalent of a street thug walking down the street and stealing her purse."Cybercriminals have access to sophisticated tools, Gorman said."You can lease that technology. You can rent that technology. You can create that technology," he said. "It's all out there on what we call the dark web."He said it's important for people to take precautions, including using difficult-to-guess passwords, varying them and using multi-factor authentication whenever possible."You can make yourself harder to hack by thinking before clicking and keeping your software and operating systems up to date," Gorman said."I was like, if they can do this to me, I want to let people know you are never safe," Michelle said.Experts said if credit cards or bank accounts were involved, any lost funds would likely be recoverable. With cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, the funds could be lost.Anyone who believes they're a victim of an online crime can report it to the FBI.

A New Hampshire woman who had thousands of dollars stolen from a cryptocurrency account is sharing her story to prevent others from being hacked.

The woman, who asked to just use her first name, Michelle, said she thought she had done everything she needed to do to stay safe, but her hacking nightmare began with a simple click on her phone.

"It said, 'Samsung account update,' and I pressed it, and I think that's what it was," she said. "Within probably an hour, my phone went down."

Michelle said her cell service provider got her phone working, but when she logged into one of four cryptocurrency accounts, it was empty.

"It's about $15,000 that's gone, just like that," she said.

She asked her provider to restore emails that might have been deleted, and that's when she saw withdrawals.

"He would know my account screen name, forgot password, they'd email the password, and then he got it and he got in," Michelle said.

Michelle said the hacker couldn't get into two other accounts but got access to a third, which is now frozen. He sent her a ransom note, and thousands of dollars more are now in limbo.

Experts said Michelle's click likely installed malicious code.

"And when you do that, you then open up your phone to be available to whoever from wherever for whatever," said James Gorman, of Cyber Defense Media Group. "She got hit by the equivalent of a street thug walking down the street and stealing her purse."

Cybercriminals have access to sophisticated tools, Gorman said.

"You can lease that technology. You can rent that technology. You can create that technology," he said. "It's all out there on what we call the dark web."

He said it's important for people to take precautions, including using difficult-to-guess passwords, varying them and using multi-factor authentication whenever possible.

"You can make yourself harder to hack by thinking before clicking and keeping your software and operating systems up to date," Gorman said.

"I was like, if they can do this to me, I want to let people know you are never safe," Michelle said.

Experts said if credit cards or bank accounts were involved, any lost funds would likely be recoverable. With cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, the funds could be lost.

Anyone who believes they're a victim of an online crime can report it to the FBI.

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New Hampshire woman says hacked phone led to theft of thousands of dollars' worth of cryptocurrency - WMUR Manchester