A local auto repair shop in Devine was checking over their online banking deposits when they noticed that all of the day’s credit card transactions hadn’t come through. Upon further inspection, they noticed that someone had hacked into their office computer and online banking account to the tune of almost $20,000 this past Monday, August 12.
“First I noticed that my credit card batch for the day never appeared, and then it became really hard for me to login into my local online banking account,” he said, wishing to remain anonymous. “When I finally got logged in after three or four tries, that’s when I noticed that someone had added a payment tab for Charles Schwab investment company, and that a check was also being drafted out. Thankfully that check hadn’t gone through all the way, and I spoke to the investment company who is also working to straighten things out.”
Over $9,000 had been re-routed from his account to an investment company to pay off somebody else’s debts, and the thieves also wrote themselves another check for $9,635 from his account.
“What the bank recommended is that I get a separate computer, just for online banking, and don’t use it for anyone else, so that’s what we are doing,” he adds. “The bank is thinking that someone was able to mirror my key strokes to see what I was typing in for all of my passwords and once they had that, they did whatever they wanted. They got my online banking account password, email passwords, and my credit card company password. So when they logged into my credit card processing account, they just went right in there and deleted my bank account number, and added theirs, so they would receive any future deposits. Thankfully, I check my accounts every single day.”
It’s not often that we hear about someone that we know getting hit this hard by hackers, so we wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone to keep a close eye on your accounts.
