 Jamil Hassani, FBI Supervisory Special Agent presented about some unique counter cyber-crime experiences from early in his career and told us about the most prevalent scams currently plaguing the Sacramento Area. He relayed valuable insights into recognizing these scams and how to promptly and simply report any criminal activity if we or someone we know falls victim to a scam. Hassani entered duty as an FBI Special Agent (SA) in 2004. From 2004 through 2007, SA Hassani was assigned to the FBI Sacramento Field Office where he worked International Terrorism cases and was a member of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. Moving to the more recent assignments, In 2017, Hassani accepted an assignment in Amman, Jordan as the FBI’s Assistant Legal Attaché. Hassani returned to the Sacramento Field Office in 2020 focused on leading a team against, among other violations, the cyber-enabled fraud that spiked during the pandemic. Agent Hassani illustrated the three phases of most scams intended to part you from your money: Social Engineering, Confidence-building, and creating a Sense of Urgency. He told the story of a man, Jack, age 62 who was first pulled in by a text which was sure to be seen as a mistake, but which could lead somewhere, "Hey, the vet is expecting us, are you close?" Then with the apologies, for the mistake, the sender shows pictures intended to show that she was a cute dog owner, beautiful, and rich. A long distance text/phone based friendship was built up over a year (Confidence-building) and stories about investment opportunity with guaranteed returns. As you might guess Jack appeared to make good returns for a while, and was eventually convinced to invest large a large sum of money (or he would lose his girlfriend -- Sense of Urgency). The scam was found to be perpetrated by a ring in SE Asia. Jamil encouraged us to report Internet Crime at the website: IC3.gov , aka the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Jamil's stories and recommendations were fascinating, and we hope to have him make a return visit. |
Jordan Brushia is a Program Coordinator for El Dorado County Area Aging Agency, (AAA).The AAA assists older adults and their families with resources and solutions, supporting a fuller, happier, healthier life. Her presentation will include the following topics: .png)
