Mark Cuban Falls Victim To This Common Account Takeover Tactic By Hackers And Loses Access To His Gmail: Here's How You Can Avoid It

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban, one of the most famous investors on the TV show “Shark Tank,” said that he fell victim to a common account takeover tactic by hackers, resulting in the loss of access to his Gmail account.

What Happened: In a now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, Cuban disclosed that his Gmail account was breached by a hacker who spoofed Google’s recovery methods. The hacker reportedly contacted Cuban from a spoofed number, alleging an intruder in his account.

The scam involved the hacker obtaining Cuban’s phone number, possibly from a data breach or a data brokerage site. Using a spoofing app from the App Store, the hacker created a fake Google number to appear on Cuban’s caller ID.

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The hacker then impersonated a Google recovery support representative and persuaded Cuban to divulge his account details under the pretense of safeguarding his account from compromise.

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How To Avoid Cuban’s Fate

After the incident, Rachel Tobac, an ethical hacker and security expert, took to X and shared ways users can recognize and avoid phone spoofing attacks:

• Understand Caller ID Spoofing: Educate everyone that caller ID can be easily spoofed. It takes less than a minute and a small fee to set up using apps from the App Store.
• Be Skeptical of Caller ID: If your caller ID shows a trusted name like Google or your bank, remember that spoofing is easy and likely. Hang up, especially if they claim to be “Support.”
• Verify by Calling Back: Criminals mimic real calls to deceive you. If you receive a call displaying your bank’s number, hang up and call your bank using the number on the back of your card. They can confirm if there is an issue with your account, but it’s likely a scam.
• Understand Support Procedures: Genuine support will not call you preemptively to help with “account recovery” or to “protect your account.” If you need help, you should be the one initiating the call.
• Protect Your Information: If someone calls you and requests your password, code, or PIN, recognize it as a social engineering attack and hang up immediately.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Photo courtesy: Wikimedia