Mom's computer hacked? Money stolen from her bank acc.

[Prose]

I'll try to describe this the best I can given the quality of info I received. She apparently tried to access her bank account and then her computer froze. She then restarted her pc and tried again, same thing. She checked her bank account the next day and saw 1000 dollars was stolen from her account. I went over there and used Tron script to hopefully remove any viruses/trojans or whatever it was that enabled the breach... if there was one. Do you guys have any recommendations as to what else I should do, or tell her to do?

 

Edit: If she was hacked or infected, are any other computers in her house infected? I'm not well versed in networking or internet security.

Edit#2: She did call her bank and get the money sorted out.

Edit#3: She gave me a more detailed account of what happened, I guess I wasn't asking her the right questions.

            - She signed on to her bank account, clicked on "my accounts" then chose an account, after which the mouse stopped responding and the screen went black.

            - This happened again after rebooting her computer.

            - She used Skype for video chatting with my brother without it crashing, as well as shopping on amazon without issue.

 

[GuiltySpark_]

Contact her bank, wipe that computer, change ALL her passwords and setup 2-factor on everything possible. No telling from here whether or not other computers were affected but given the severity of the situation, in my house, everything would get wiped.

 

TBH, she should know to contact her bank first, from what you've said so far, there is no direct indication that this breach even came from her computer.

[Prose]

4 minutes ago, rickeo said:

Contact her bank, wipe that computer, change ALL her passwords and setup 2-factor on everything possible. No telling from here whether or not other computers were affected but given the severity of the situation, in my house, everything would get wiped.

Thanks rickeo, I'll get it done. She did contact her bank, looks like everything is getting resolved on that end.

[badreg]

$1,000 stolen how? It's difficult to transfer funds out of a bank account with just unauthorized access to the online account. Even with something like Zelle, an outgoing transfer to a new account requires second factor authentication.

 

Regardless, as @rickeo says, the first step is to contact the bank and alert them of the fraud. It will be fairly trivial to recover the missing funds. I don't think that there is any evidence yet that any "hack" occurred.

[Prose]

3 minutes ago, badreg said:

$1,000 stolen how? It's difficult to transfer funds out of a bank account with just unauthorized access to the online account. Even with something like Zelle, an outgoing transfer to a new account requires second factor authentication.

 

Regardless, as @rickeo says, the first step is to contact the bank and alert them of the fraud. It will be fairly trivial to recovery the missing funds. I don't think that there is any evidence yet that any "hack" occurred.

I'm guessing it was a malicious text on her phone, I've already set that to factory default just in case, although she doesn't remember opening any text. The computer freezing twice on the sign in screen for her bank account is what puzzles me.

 

it was an email money transfer.

[badreg]

4 minutes ago, Prose said:

I'm guessing it was a malicious text on her phone, I've already set that to factory default just in case, although she doesn't remember opening any text. The computer freezing twice on the sign in screen for her bank account is what puzzles me.

No, I mean, how did the money leave her account? Even if we accept what you say at face value (i.e. malicious text circumventing 2FA, frozen sign in screen is a phishing site) and assumed that an attacker had full access to her online banking account, it is not easy to actually take money out of the account.

 

Edit: saw your edit. So Zelle or similar, then?

[kirashi]

20 minutes ago, Prose said:

it was an email money transfer.

So uh, then it technically has nothing to do with the computer, as email is server based. Sounds like we need a lot more information to play internet detective simulator here, so best you can do is lock down her accounts with 2FA after changing passwords and contact the bank.

[Prose]

17 minutes ago, badreg said:

No, I mean, how did the money leave her account? Even if we accept what you say at face value (i.e. malicious text circumventing 2FA, frozen sign in screen is a phishing site) and assumed that an attacker had full access to her online banking account, it is not easy to actually take money out of the account.

 

Edit: saw your edit. So Zelle or similar, then?

Must be, all she told me was that money was transferred to someone else's account and that she didn't recognize the name.

[badreg]

3 minutes ago, Prose said:

Must be, all she told me was that money was transferred to someone else's account and that she didn't recognize the name.

If it were me, I would confirm this (the transaction line would say "ZELLE TO ...", which would confirm that her credentials were compromised, but there would still be no evidence that her computer was breached. It was most likely a phishing attack through text or email.

 

Like everyone else says, set up unique passwords and 2FA on all accounts. Get her a password manager, and get her educated on how phishing attacks work.

[Prose]

4 minutes ago, badreg said:

If it were me, I would confirm this (the transaction line would say "ZELLE TO ...", which would confirm that her credentials were compromised, but there would still be no evidence that her computer was breached. It was most likely a phishing attack through text or email.

 

Like everyone else says, set up unique passwords and 2FA on all accounts. Get her a password manager, and get her educated on how phishing attacks work.

I had the phishing attacks talk with her today when I wiped her phone. She doesn't remember anything like that happening, although she's 70 years old and doesn't have the best memory. I'm in the process of setting up her 2FA, any recommendations on a password manager? 

[Torreip]

16 minutes ago, Prose said:

I had the phishing attacks talk with her today when I wiped her phone. She doesn't remember anything like that happening, although she's 70 years old and doesn't have the best memory. I'm in the process of setting up her 2FA, any recommendations on a password manager? 

I was pretty happy of dashlane 1-2 years ago. If you go that route never forget to set a backup contact just to be sure you don’t loose any master password.

[Prose]

1 minute ago, Torreip said:

I was pretty happy of dashlane 1-2 years ago. If you go that route never forget to set a backup contact just to be sure you don’t loose any master password.

Thanks, I'll take a look.

[badreg]

30 minutes ago, Prose said:

any recommendations on a password manager?

I use keepass, but that's definitely not the best option for a tech novice. I would research a paid option and prioritize convenience over ultimate security. The less of a pain it is to use, the more like your mom is to use it, which is the most important part.

[Snail Jerky]

I'm not up on the phone tech world.  Was using a Windows phone up until 2020. (was a piece of crap. But to avoid E-waste, used it as long as I could)

 

Can modern smart phones,  be set up to only allow/show texts, etc.  from approved senders, phone numbers?   Maybe useful for an older parent/relative.

[Prose]

1 minute ago, Snail Jerky said:

I'm not up on the phone tech world.  Was using a Windows phone up until 2020. (was a piece of crap. But to avoid E-waste, used it as long as I could)

 

Can modern smart phones,  be set up to only allow/show texts, etc.  from approved senders, phone numbers?   Maybe useful for an older parent/relative.

There's an app called "Should I Answer?" that screens calls and texts. It's... okay I guess, I still get some scam calls and texts now and then with the app. I'd like to know if anyone has a better app.