Victim of fraud & it’s making my life hell, receiving death threats. Please h

worried4321

I need help please

Everything was on & off ok ish until 2 weeks ago.. My laptop was stolen from me in March, not the end of the world I bought a new laptop as I need one for work & education

I’ve already reported the above & the below to the Gardai

Over the last few months very odd & worrying things have happened serious & worrying threats to myself & my family through pop ups & random web cam activity on my new laptop, death threats, threats to my family, threats to bomb & set my home on fire, sexual threats like to catch & rape me
 
Threats come in ways such as, on the pop ups there’s different colours of wording different fonts different sizes etc, web cams can be different voices male/female some Irish, uk, usa, foreign languages as well
 

To add to that worry the below was saved on the desktop of the laptop that was stolen…

my passport, provisional licence, Garda ID, birth cert, my bank account number, sort code, pin codes, access to internet banking, access to current & past financial information of bank statements, Visa 3D secure User ID & password to process payments. Scanned copy of the front & back of my visa card,

Email address, usernames & passwords for all social media sites i.e. Facebook, twitter, youtube, linkedin, Instagram, snapchat & any other social media site that I use.

My contact number & the ability to make & receive incoming & external calls to landlines & mobile phones using my own contact number.

Voice recognition – For confidence building I had hundreds of hours of my own voice recording files saved on my desktop

Revenue – PPSN, DOB & my temporary internet password to log into myaccount online/ROS were saved in a word document on my desktop.

Current & past employment details – names & addresses of current & previous employers and any documents in relation to the employer/my employment.

Any email addresses that I have & the passwords for each of the email address

Personal hand written notes from work, pages of old third level & professional lecture written notes.


In the 2 last weeks I’ve had my current account with my bank closed by the fraud department, I also had a personal loan with the bank which they have now took away from me probably due to suspected fraud though they won’t tell me, I’ve advised them about what has been happening me since my laptop was took but they don’t care

Due to the bank cancelling the loan I’ve had to cancel the planned wedding with my fiancé & let the whole family & friends know.. as a result of this we’ve had numerous arguments about the cancelling of the wedding due to the loan being gone now & this has put a strain on the relationship..

This has hurt me badly as it not only it effects me, but my girlfriend who I love & adore & can’t stand to lose

I went into the Garda station today to see if there was an update & I was advised that they would check cctv cameras on & in & around the road I live on in the next week or 2..

I don’t mean to belittle the Gardai as they do fantastic work but when my life is at stake with constant death threats.. Im sorry but checking cctv camera’s aren’t going to save me from being murdered in my sleep or shot at when I’m going to work.. no point in checking cctv when I’m told that I’m going to be murdered by the end of the month.. these threats have got more specific adding in dates, times & locations in the last 2 last weeks & its badly effecting me

Is there anything I can do ?

Ray37

I am so sorry to hear this is happening to you.
Can you not show the bank any correspondence you have had with the Guards re the stolen laptop, and all your information? When you say you get 'pop ups', are they pop ups like how ads pop up? When you say the webcams, are people speaking to you via this when you turn it on? 
I'd suggest sharing as much evidence as you can with your bank in the hope that they can reinstate your loan.
Have the Guards not got a team that can investigate cyber crime? I fail to see what CCTV has to do with your laptop being robbed months ago, clearly you are being targeted online.
I hope you get sorted, that sounds so terrifying.

worried4321

Ray37 wrote: »

I am so sorry to hear this is happening to you.
Can you not show the bank any correspondence you have had with the Guards re the stolen laptop, and all your information? When you say you get 'pop ups', are they pop ups like how ads pop up? When you say the webcams, are people speaking to you via this when you turn it on? 
I'd suggest sharing as much evidence as you can with your bank in the hope that they can reinstate your loan.
Have the Guards not got a team that can investigate cyber crime? I fail to see what CCTV has to do with your laptop being robbed months ago, clearly you are being targeted online.
I hope you get sorted, that sounds so terrifying.

Thanks for your reply

That's a good suggestion as far as I know its just the initial report thats on file when I first reported this to the gardai as there's been no movement since then on their side,

No they're not like ad pop ups like the ads on the right hand side of the boards site, they're like paint messages or clip art pictures & animations, I also get these even when Im not connected to wifi

Yes people talk on the web cams, I don't see anything its typically black, I have the camera on the laptop covered/blocked so they can't see me either

I dont manually turn on my web cam it goes on & off by itself

Im pretty sure they do have a department specially for laptops phones IT, I'm thinking of giving up with my local garda station as given the seriousness of this & my fear I dont feel enough is being done or even attempted to be done, Ill try to contact a specific unit instead

Ray37

My God, that is horrific, this needs to be taken very seriously. If you know anyone in IT maybe speak to them and see if they can recommend someone to talk to who may be able to trace this kind of thing, they may be able to advise you based on how their own companies have their security set up (e.g, if they have ever had a hack, where did they report it, what info did they need to share, etc). 
Have you considered a camera at your own home? Not to try to scare you, I would hope this is just some freak who is living out some sad fantasy online, but it might be worthwhile to catch any suspicious activity?

lifeandtimes

If this is happening offline you have a logic bomb and quite possible a RAT infection. This means they can remotely access your device with Trojans,perform key strokes,screen captures,camera captures,file access and code execution.
This can only happen if the hackers have installed a rootkit which basically means they've installed a backdoor to your hardware and can come and go as they please.
Get your laptop to a cyber security specialist who will resolve all these issues.
Also take solus in the fact that hackers are usually after a payload meaning they want somethinf from you. Usually money and once they figure out they aren't getting it by means of them being shut out by a professional they usually give up and move onto the next person.
In the mean time change all details that you can that isn't connected to your laptop. I.e. change you Facebook,gmail etc from your phone or library pc. Give the laptop a rest until you get it checked over and use public pcs until it's sorted for you

emmaro

That is terrifying. I am so sorry you are going through this. Sorry I don't have any advice but just want to say I hope you get this sorted as it's a horrific thing to go through.

HeavyHeaded

This is outrageous. I would personally demand the guards take this seriously. Death threats cannot wait two weeks to be looked into.
As said about get your laptop to a specialist asap and I'd robably stay away from it or a while too

tomwaterford

Screenshot /if possible record the pop ups and show the gaurds?

Atoms for Peace

I'd stop using the laptop immediately, as well as the laptop itself sounds like your entire online profile has been compromised. You should probably seek professional IT security help.

LegacyUser

So sorry to hear this is happening. Seems bizarre that the bank would punish you for being a victim of fraud. I've had cards stolen before and they were very supportive, blocked and resupplied all cards etc, put the money back in to my account.

I'm surprised no one has said this already but do not ever put all that information on your desktop. You are leaving yourself wide open. Even if your laptop wasn't stolen, hackers if they get access (like what's happening to you now) can view that information if they get in. It's not as complicated as people would like to think.

If I were you i'd make an appointment with your branch manager asap and show them police reports etc. Is it possible to get the wedding back on track?

ManOfMystery

This is all very bizarre. 

I work in IT. Deal with phishing attempts, social engineering, ransomware, etc on a daily basis. The nefarious inviduals behind these attempts are almost always after one thing : money. Have you been asked for money?

Have seen plenty of different attempts to extrapolate information or money from an individual, but never death threats, rape threats, etc. Repeated threats like this are done intentionally to terrorise you, and if the other party has not asked for money then they are doing it to get a kick out of it. In which case, I'd question if it's a possibility that there is something personal behind this. Where was your laptop stolen from? Could it be someone you know, or does that scenario not fit with the circumstances of the theft?
In regards to the pop-ups, do you respond to them? Do they engage with you if you do? It's hard to tell from your post if these are specific messages targeted at you or totally random ones which are automated and generated by websites. I'm finding it difficult to comprehend how they could specifically target your new laptop with popup messages, even with access to the info on your old machine. 
In any event, this needs to be escalated and I would be having a very serious and frank talk with the Guards about taking it a bit more seriously.

I'd also advise with regards to your new laptop:

• Buy an external hard drive and back up everything regularly, or back up to cloud
• Change all your passwords for absolutely everything you use. Try not to use the same password for different services. Change them regularly - every few months at least. 
• Never, ever store your passwords in a readable text file on your computer. If you must, then password lock the text file itself. If you must, then only enter a couple of the characters in the password - enough for you to guess it - and keep the rest blank or fill with asterisks.
• If you have trouble remembering passwords, construct one from a phrase you'll have no trouble remembering. Example - "I Was Born In January 1980 And I Love Chocolate Stars" - Iwbij1980ailc*
• I would strongly advise against storing so many copies of personally identifiable info on your machine in future. However, if you MUST do it, put it in separate areas - don't put all your eggs in one basket. Use the Cloud, use a backup drive, etc. 
• And finally, invest in some decent security software and install it on your machine. Look at hard drive encryption which requires a password at startup always, and which locks out the hard drive even if removed. If your new laptop is Windows 10, it supports full disk encryption already - check if its activated. If not, look at upgrading to Win10. 

brainfreeze

Could you entertain the possibility that you might be ill? Everything you describe sounds very implausible and rings a few alarms.

There maybe a far more simple explanation. Especially to why there is people out to get you, multiple voices in different accents, and even getting messages when you are not connected to the internet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_schizophrenia#Symptoms

http://www.yourmentalhealth.ie/

Paddy Cow

brainfreeze wrote: »

Could you entertain the possibility that you might be ill? Everything you describe sounds very implausible and rings a few alarms.

There maybe a far more simple explanation. Especially to why there is people out to get you, multiple voices in different accents, and even getting messages when you are not connected to the internet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_schizophrenia#Symptoms

http://www.yourmentalhealth.ie/

Are you for real? An IT specialist has explained how this can happen and someone can have remote access to the op's laptop.

Op as others have said, talk to your branch manager and explain everything. Don't listen to the above post.

.......

This post has been deleted.

Paddy Cow

....... wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

What? The op is surrounded by fiance, family and friends who would be in a far better position to pass remarks on his mental health, than people on the internet who have read two posts and decided he could be a paranoid schizophrenic.

Yourself isit

Op, One odd thing I noticed.

Your original laptop was stolen. Then you got a new one?

And the new one is the one compromised?

Was it really new? Or did you get it second hand.

Ionised

Paddy Cow wrote:

Are you for real? An IT specialist has explained how this can happen and someone can have remote access to the op's laptop.

An IT specialist posting on Boards? When was this?

The suggestion of a possible mental health problem does seem rather more plausible when one looks at the nature of the OP posts.

Perhaps good advice would be to burn the new laptop AND consult a doctor.

Kalimah

What I don't understand is the attitude of the bank according to the OP. From my own experience in banking customer service there is no way a loan would be cancelled, and if the current account had been compromised beyond all saving there would be a new one set up immediately.
The webcam operating independently of Internet connection is quite odd too. I didn't think that was possible though I'm no techie.

MissShihTzu

Ionised wrote: »

An IT specialist posting on Boards? When was this?

The suggestion of a possible mental health problem does seem rather more plausible when one looks at the nature of the OP posts.

Perhaps good advice would be to burn the new laptop AND consult a doctor.

Here you go...

ManOfMystery wrote: »

This is all very bizarre.

I work in IT. Deal with phishing attempts, social engineering, ransomware, etc on a daily basis. The nefarious inviduals behind these attempts are almost always after one thing : money. Have you been asked for money?

Have seen plenty of different attempts to extrapolate information or money from an individual, but never death threats, rape threats, etc. Repeated threats like this are done intentionally to terrorise you, and if the other party has not asked for money then they are doing it to get a kick out of it. In which case, I'd question if it's a possibility that there is something personal behind this. Where was your laptop stolen from? Could it be someone you know, or does that scenario not fit with the circumstances of the theft?
In regards to the pop-ups, do you respond to them? Do they engage with you if you do? It's hard to tell from your post if these are specific messages targeted at you or totally random ones which are automated and generated by websites. I'm finding it difficult to comprehend how they could specifically target your new laptop with popup messages, even with access to the info on your old machine.
In any event, this needs to be escalated and I would be having a very serious and frank talk with the Guards about taking it a bit more seriously.

I'd also advise with regards to your new laptop:

• Buy an external hard drive and back up everything regularly, or back up to cloud
• Change all your passwords for absolutely everything you use. Try not to use the same password for different services. Change them regularly - every few months at least.
• Never, ever store your passwords in a readable text file on your computer. If you must, then password lock the text file itself. If you must, then only enter a couple of the characters in the password - enough for you to guess it - and keep the rest blank or fill with asterisks.
• If you have trouble remembering passwords, construct one from a phrase you'll have no trouble remembering. Example - "I Was Born In January 1980 And I Love Chocolate Stars" - Iwbij1980ailc*
• I would strongly advise against storing so many copies of personally identifiable info on your machine in future. However, if you MUST do it, put it in separate areas - don't put all your eggs in one basket. Use the Cloud, use a backup drive, etc.
• And finally, invest in some decent security software and install it on your machine. Look at hard drive encryption which requires a password at startup always, and which locks out the hard drive even if removed. If your new laptop is Windows 10, it supports full disk encryption already - check if its activated. If not, look at upgrading to Win10.

Hrududu

On the off chance that this is not a mental health issue my question would be about the new laptop. Is it brand new or 2nd hand? If some dodgy software was installed on it before you bought it then surely it's likely that the original theft is unrelated to what's happening now with the new machine

Change absolutely every password you have asap. Change every pin on all your cards. In fact I'd cancel the cards to be on the safe side. And in future never save anything like that again on a laptop or phone

Oh and completely wipe the laptop. Format it and put on a new OS

MissShihTzu

Hrududu wrote: »

On the off chance that this is not a mental health issue my question would be about the new laptop. Is it brand new or 2nd hand? If some dodgy software was installed on it before you bought it then surely it's likely that the original theft is unrelated to what's happening now with the new machine

Change absolutely every password you have asap. Change every pin on all your cards. In fact I'd cancel the cards to be on the safe side. And in future never save anything like that again on a laptop or phone

Oh and completely wipe the laptop. Format it and put on a new OS

I'd also take out the hard drive on the old laptop and smash that up with a hammer. As well as destroying the data, it might make you feel better...

shesty

I don't get this.
OP given the level of detail that you had gone to store stuff on your desktop(copies of your visa card?revenue login details?passport copies?) I have to wonder why you felt it was necessary to copy all this stuff and store it?
I don't understand why someone would (apparently) randomly steal your laptop then go to the trouble of either installing something on your new one or somehow....I don't know....find you online, get into your net connection and connect to your webcam or your computer to broadcast popup messages.Do you work in some sort of confidential job or area that they feel you can blackmail you somehow?Or do you know the person who did this and they have some sort of vendetta against you (and apparently a lot of time on their hands and good bit of IT knowledge)
I am trying to think what I would do in your situation. I think firstly I would have closed all my accounts,financial or otherwise, and opened new ones.I would have cancelled all my cards and ordered new ones.I would have flagged the situation with the bank.Close all online accounts, changed all passports and checked out options for what to do when licence and passport are stolen.
As for the IT side (and my knowledge is limited), I think I'd be changing my WiFi passwords and buying a few security programmes for the new laptop.I would block webcam.And chase Gardai on this.
I still find it very odd.....is there anything else you are not telling?

rainbowtrout

shesty wrote: »

I don't get this.
OP given the level of detail that you had gone to store stuff on your desktop(copies of your visa card?revenue login details?passport copies?) I have to wonder why you felt it was necessary to copy all this stuff and store it?
......
I still find it very odd.....is there anything else you are not telling?

I also find this very odd.

worried4321 wrote: »

To add to that worry the below was saved on the desktop of the laptop that was stolen…

my passport, provisional licence, Garda ID, birth cert, my bank account number, sort code, pin codes, access to internet banking, access to current & past financial information of bank statements, Visa 3D secure User ID & password to process payments. Scanned copy of the front & back of my visa card,

Email address, usernames & passwords for all social media sites i.e. Facebook, twitter, youtube, linkedin, Instagram, snapchat & any other social media site that I use.

My contact number & the ability to make & receive incoming & external calls to landlines & mobile phones using my own contact number.

Voice recognition – For confidence building I had hundreds of hours of my own voice recording files saved on my desktop

Revenue – PPSN, DOB & my temporary internet password to log into myaccount online/ROS were saved in a word document on my desktop.

Current & past employment details – names & addresses of current & previous employers and any documents in relation to the employer/my employment.

Any email addresses that I have & the passwords for each of the email address

Personal hand written notes from work, pages of old third level & professional lecture written notes.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would scan all of the above documents etc and store them on a laptop. Why would anyone need to scan the back and front of a visa card? It's tantamount to putting your life in one folder on your computer and labelling it 'Please steal my identity'. Something doesn't add up here.

Banks are particularly on the ball when it comes to investigating fraud. I've had my card blocked a couple of times in the past when I've made a couple of large transactions and it's obviously been flagged on their system, and I've had to contact them to let them know it's me using it. They don't ignore fraud and if your cards were being used in suspicious circumstances they would contact you. And it would be fairly obvious that it was fraud.

LegacyUser

A webcam working independently of you turning it on is a sure sign your laptop is infected. It's easier than people think all you need do is click on a link someone has either sent you or put up in a forum you frequent. Had it happen through a forum I once frequented and whoever was responsible for infecting my laptop then starting posting forum topic headlines that corresponded to my exact actions at that time. I later noted the camera turning self on. Both myself and partners bank cards also have fraudulent purchases made on them.

lifeandtimes

Nothere2017 wrote: »

A webcam working independently of you turning it on is a sure sign your laptop is infected. It's easier than people think all you need do is click on a link someone has either sent you or put up in a forum you frequent. Had it happen through a forum I once frequented and whoever was responsible for infecting my laptop then starting posting forum topic headlines that corresponded to my exact actions at that time. I later noted the camera turning self on. Both myself and partners bank cards also have fraudulent purchases made on them.

And it's quite believable that someone who saves every little detail of their entire life on piece of hardware would click a link that would infect their computer.

I'm sorry op but it is so naive to save all that info on your laptop and to go to such lengths as scanning your card details as well. It's personal security 101 that you do not do that so it's quite mind boggling that you did

Phibsboro

While I agree that OP does sound like they could benefit from seeing a health professional just to double check everything is OK, I would make a point re the amount of personal details on the laptop. I have three different online banking products (e.g. Revolut) and all required detailed Anti Money Laundering documentation, including passport scans, driving license, bills etc. I have also bought stuff from online stores that ask for a scan of your credit card (it's unusual but it does happen, I think it might be a country specific thing). I use the Google photo scan thingy to do scans which means that all of those docs are up on the cloud.

Seeing them all listed in the OP like that is making me think I should go through and delete them all!

rainbowtrout

Phibsboro wrote: »

While I agree that OP does sound like they could benefit from seeing a health professional just to double check everything is OK, I would make a point re the amount of personal details on the laptop. I have three different online banking products (e.g. Revolut) and all required detailed Anti Money Laundering documentation, including passport scans, driving license, bills etc. I have also bought stuff from online stores that ask for a scan of your credit card (it's unusual but it does happen, I think it might be a country specific thing). I use the Google photo scan thingy to do scans which means that all of those docs are up on the cloud.

Seeing them all listed in the OP like that is making me think I should go through and delete them all!

I have never heard of this happening in all the years I've been buying stuff online. I wouldn't buy from a website that couldn't provide the standard security that allows you to enter your credit card details and expects you to send a scan.

arayess

rainbowtrout wrote: »

I have never heard of this happening in all the years I've been buying stuff online. I wouldn't buy from a website that couldn't provide the standard security that allows you to enter your credit card details and expects you to send a scan.

i've experience with online gambling and some bookies will ask for front and back photos of the cards - with some details blocked out

shesty

Well I accept the OP felt the need to gather all that stuff and put it on his desktop, for some personal reaso ....although it is 100% not the right thing to do. However I am having a lot of trouble with the why.

Who randomly steals a laptop, finds all this stuff on it and thinks....I'm going to harass this person up to the point of sending death threats and taking control of their webcam etc? (Easy as it seems to be, you still have to go to the trouble of finding them on the web to do that...)Yet they don't appear to have made any purchases using the OP's card information or bank information?

I just feel there's a piece missing here somewhere.