Pontypridd phone-jacking scam prompts warning to others
Police are urging the public to be vigilant following an alarming incident in Pontypridd yesterday (13 Jan).
A woman was contacted by somebody claiming to be from Sky TV. They said that there had been problems with internet connections in the area, and offered to help.
When agreed, they promoted the victim – a 55 year-old woman – to download an app called Team Viewer Quick Support, which she did, and then she entered a reference number that she was given.
The victim was then asked about personal banking information, which raised her suspicions and she hung up. Almost immediately a number of malicious text messages were sent from the victim’s phone to family members.
Officers believe that the target disengaged just in time – her phone is likely to have been hijacked using the app, which would have given the scammers access to all of the phone's content and control of the phone while the app is in use.
The ultimate aim is usually to obtain money by gaining access to the banking apps held on mobile phones.
The matter has been referred to Action Fraud.
The public are urged to be vigilant, and to never provide information to cold callers, or follow instructions without confirming for sure, the authenticity of a caller by terminating the call and contacting the organisation using a known customer services number.
