Andy Asaro
11-18-2018, 10:30 AM
https://twitter.com/racetrackandy/status/1064177834082545666
Excerpt:
After nearly a year of dormancy, a scam in which trainers are targeted by someone claiming to represent a wealthy foreign businessman who wants to get into the game by handing over high-level horses is making the rounds again.
In reality, the fraudsters are using the ruse of a too-good-to-be-true business deal to gain access to a trainer’s phone or computer, presumably to steal financial data, bank account numbers, and passwords.
The way the thieves try to pull off the swindle is by having a person pretending to be an intermediary first call to outline the proposition, with the caveat that the allegedly super-rich mogul will only conduct subsequent business over ultra-secure communication lines.
The trainer is then steered to a fake technology pro who allegedly works for the businessman. Using a remote internet connection, that person will want to inspect the trainer’s digital device for what is described as a safety check. If given permission to access the trainer’s phone or computer, the scammers will then try to harvest personal data from it while claiming that the machine is full of security breaches.
If the ploy gets this far, the con artists will try to get debit card information from the trainer, claiming that a fee is required for custom software that needs to be installed to make the device secure before the rich investor will communicate with them.
What makes the scam so nefariously ingenious is that the hustlers are using the names of actual high net-worth individuals, encouraging potential victims to Google the person as a means of due diligence. Everything appears to check out online, but trainers have no way of knowing that the real wealthy person has nothing to do with the con artists.
“It was pretty elaborate,” one prominent, longtime Southern California trainer told TDN Friday. “They totally had me there for awhile.”
The trainer requested anonymity because the scam went far enough that his computer was compromised, and he doesn’t want to encounter further woes if the con artists decide to retaliate against him for speaking publicly about what happened.
Excerpt:
After nearly a year of dormancy, a scam in which trainers are targeted by someone claiming to represent a wealthy foreign businessman who wants to get into the game by handing over high-level horses is making the rounds again.
In reality, the fraudsters are using the ruse of a too-good-to-be-true business deal to gain access to a trainer’s phone or computer, presumably to steal financial data, bank account numbers, and passwords.
The way the thieves try to pull off the swindle is by having a person pretending to be an intermediary first call to outline the proposition, with the caveat that the allegedly super-rich mogul will only conduct subsequent business over ultra-secure communication lines.
The trainer is then steered to a fake technology pro who allegedly works for the businessman. Using a remote internet connection, that person will want to inspect the trainer’s digital device for what is described as a safety check. If given permission to access the trainer’s phone or computer, the scammers will then try to harvest personal data from it while claiming that the machine is full of security breaches.
If the ploy gets this far, the con artists will try to get debit card information from the trainer, claiming that a fee is required for custom software that needs to be installed to make the device secure before the rich investor will communicate with them.
What makes the scam so nefariously ingenious is that the hustlers are using the names of actual high net-worth individuals, encouraging potential victims to Google the person as a means of due diligence. Everything appears to check out online, but trainers have no way of knowing that the real wealthy person has nothing to do with the con artists.
“It was pretty elaborate,” one prominent, longtime Southern California trainer told TDN Friday. “They totally had me there for awhile.”
The trainer requested anonymity because the scam went far enough that his computer was compromised, and he doesn’t want to encounter further woes if the con artists decide to retaliate against him for speaking publicly about what happened.