Older family member thinks they are being hacked

[Avaviel]

A relative of mine thinks he is being hacked. He tells me that via a multiplayer game, someone figured out his IP address. He's absolutely sure that someone installed root kits on all of his PCs, and his phone. They are sending him secret messages via twitter, but they appear to be porn spam messages. He has reinstalled linux many times, and now keeps on of the systems offline. I'm not worried he will see this, because currently his home is offline because his custom router he made after the first hack is hacked again.

His new cell line has 'hacked', and "shut off" because of suspicious activity. He has a new phone number now.

Here is what I think is happening:
I'm fully confident in the video game he met cheaters. Red Dead has many steam reports of it. So like a low level character could kill him and become a bear or something. Then, he thinks they're a hacker. Suspects his hacker crosses the linux distro from the  proton layer cross over to regular linux side. (didn't happen) Thinks they got his IP from steam multiplayer (could happen) and hacked his internet (maybe could happen?) and installed rootkits. But like... this is stuff Iran does to Canada, not RDR cheater to retiree, right?

He has NVME drives he's sure has the root kit on it. What should he do with them? 

And like, what should I tell him? I think he needs to see a counselor.

[Kilrah]

6 minutes ago, Avaviel said:

I think he needs to see a counselor.

Sounds like it. No tech solution will solve that kind of problem.

[Avaviel]

3 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Sounds like it. No tech solution will solve that kind of problem.

That's what I suspect too.

It's like he knows enough to be dangerous. Hell, he taught me most of what I know about building computers. Instead of Linus growing up, I had him.

[Agall]

1 hour ago, Avaviel said:

but they appear to be porn spam messages

And like, what should I tell him? I think he needs to see a counselor.

Maybe he's paranoid after clicking on the wrong thing on the wrong site and is connecting dots that don't connect.

 

1 hour ago, Avaviel said:

his custom router he made after the first hack is hacked again.

If he's got a custom router, he should be able to see traffic regardless of if its a rootkit, so he can just use the hardware and monitor?

[TetraSky]

I knew someone like that.

He caused all the issues himself and blamed it on imaginary hackers.

That's some serious mental issues.

[Lunar River]

that is some intense paranoia.

 

13 hours ago, Kilrah said:

Sounds like it. No tech solution will solve that kind of problem.

unfortunately to the degree it's being made out in the OP, he might start saying that it's the therapist that is hacking him or that they're helping the hackers to learn more about him

 

It's a hard situation and i'm not really sure what the solution could be, but you might need to start with an intervention with the rest of the family before going the therapist route.

[Avaviel]

13 hours ago, Agall said:

Maybe he's paranoid after clicking on the wrong thing on the wrong site and is connecting dots that don't connect.

 

If he's got a custom router, he should be able to see traffic regardless of if its a rootkit, so he can just use the hardware and monitor?

I had a coworker once who was like this. Why I noticed what my relative is doing. The coworker, He played GTA five. The online one, and his character was his girlfriend. He flew out to New York City years before this, to meet a girl. But he was catfished. All the way to NYC… she wasn’t real. So he had her as a girlfriend. His character. Always talking about the cars he got her and apartments and stuff. Was an amazing artisan with framing too. Great at his job.

 

One day he stopped showing to work, and a month later his apartment complex visited work. He was gone. No one knows where. 
 

As to my relative… I agree. I’m talking to my mom. Hopefully I can visit him, we don’t live in the same area. But I tried to encourage him over the phone. 
 

I’ll tell him to track traffic. That might help.

[Agall]

2 hours ago, Avaviel said:

I had a coworker once who was like this. Why I noticed what my relative is doing. The coworker, He played GTA five. The online one, and his character was his girlfriend. He flew out to New York City years before this, to meet a girl. But he was catfished. All the way to NYC… she wasn’t real. So he had her as a girlfriend. His character. Always talking about the cars he got her and apartments and stuff. Was an amazing artisan with framing too. Great at his job.

 

One day he stopped showing to work, and a month later his apartment complex visited work. He was gone. No one knows where. 
 

As to my relative… I agree. I’m talking to my mom. Hopefully I can visit him, we don’t live in the same area. But I tried to encourage him over the phone. 
 

I’ll tell him to track traffic. That might help.

Sometimes you can't convince the person into acting rational to any degree, so even if they're staring at network traffic the whole time in this case and see nothing, the paranoia will win. I have a family member who has short fall ins with a similar problem from some military related trauma, they'll almost always confide in my rationality on the situation which seems to be one of the few things that help them, maybe he needs that from someone who understands technically. 

[Needfuldoer]

4 hours ago, Agall said:

Sometimes you can't convince the person into acting rational to any degree, so even if they're staring at network traffic the whole time in this case and see nothing, the paranoia will win.

Yup. You can't override an emotional response with logic.

[Agall]

14 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Yup. You can't override an emotional response with logic.

Well, you can, but its not an expected capability nor necessarily better to do so.

[ThousandBlade]

Lol hacker need to get payed.

Unless your telling me he's got bitcoins worth stealing, nobody is after him.

[wasab]

tell him to disconnect from the internet for eternity and he will be 100% safe 

[Avaviel]

On 2/7/2024 at 8:42 PM, wasab said:

tell him to disconnect from the internet for eternity and he will be 100% safe 

I'm glad I have enough intelligence to understand your suggestion is 100% counterproductive.

[fartmuncher69_420]

If he has normally been level headed without a history of mental illness or paranoia then it may be a sign of a physical change or his apartment has a carbon monoxide leak (like the famous reddit post). If he can, seeing a doctor may be a good first step. 

[wasab]

6 hours ago, Avaviel said:

I'm glad I have enough intelligence to understand your suggestion is 100% counterproductive.

extreme problem means extreme solution 

[Avaviel]

On 2/5/2024 at 3:47 PM, Kilrah said:

Sounds like it. No tech solution will solve that kind of problem.

Can you please lock this thread? Thanks to most of you for your replies, except for the one guy.

I see the action I need to take, and the comments are becoming unhelpful to the extreme.