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Hackers use simple phone trick to hold Wall Street giants hostage in ransom plot: report

Nypost · · 676 words · By James Franey
Social Engineering Cybersecurity Vulnerability Financial Sector Risk
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What to know about Social Engineering

Hackers use simple phone trick to hold Wall Street giants hostage in ransom plot: report See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 16
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center86%
Right14%

7 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Hackers use simple phone trick to hold Wall Street giants hostage in ransom plot: report See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on Google Ransom-seeking hackers targeted dozens of prominent US financial institutions and other major businesses over the past month, according to a report.

Common ground

Google disclosed the ongoing cyberattacks earlier this week, with Reuters reporting that the targeted firms included Blackstone, Bridgewater Associates, Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital, KKR, TPG, CME Group, Clearlake Capital and Moody’s.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/08/07/business/hackers-use-simple-phone-trick-to-hold-wa…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 16 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 6
info Single Source 4
check_circle Corroborated 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified By Reference 2
schedule
Claim 1: “The hackers also targeted law firms Paul Hastings and Greenberg Traurig.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
check_circle
Claim 2: “The cybercriminals did their hacking the old fashioned way, simply calling up employees at those businesses, posing as company help desks, and then getting their unwitting targets to give up sensitive data”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources describe the use of social engineering and posing as tech support/help desks over the phone to obtain data. While some sources mention different targets (Aflac, Point72), the method described matches the claim.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Using this data, the hackers later tried to infiltrate the network of defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The hackers gained access to the key fob data by sending emails to four employees of the paren…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_(security)
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Aflac said the hackers used “social engineering” tactics to breach their network, manipulating employees to gain access to a company system and often posing as tech support workers over the phone — a …
https://nypost.com/2025/06/20/business/aflac-customer-data-b…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Attackers used social-engineering phone calls to target Point72, Two Sigma, and Citadel, exposing the human layer that no firewall protects. What crypto holders should learn.
https://www.spendnode.io/blog/wall-street-social-engineering…
schedule
Claim 3: “Point72 Asset Management informed investors on Wednesday about a recent attack attempt.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 4: “Google identified several aliases the hackers utilize, including Redact, Pink, Falcon and Helix.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for this specific claim.
schedule
Claim 5: “the hackers also targeted hedge funds Two Sigma Investments and Citadel”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 6: “The cybercriminals built digital traps for more than 200 companies during the past five weeks.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 7: “Greenberg Traurig released a statement confirming their security protocols successfully protected client data and prevented a data breach.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 8: “The hackers call employees directly on their personal cellphone and pretend to represent the corporate information technology help desk”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence consists of general Wikipedia entries about the movie 'Hackers' and the general definition of a hacker, providing no specific evidence for the claim about personal cellphone targeting.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Hackers is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Fisher Stevens, and Lorraine Bracco, with Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard, Lauren…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_(film)
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — News and popular culture portray hackers variously as criminals, cyberterrorists, socially isolated technical prodigies, activists, defenders, and security professionals.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Hackers find such places, and use them. There are also hackers who use the same skills for good purposes. Such hackers are called white hat hackers. They help computer engineers to find vulnerable pla…
https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker
check_circle
Claim 9: “Ransom-seeking hackers targeted dozens of prominent US financial institutions and other major businesses over the past month”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results (Dunya News, Forth/Reuters, and another report) all confirm that ransom-seeking hackers targeted dozens of prominent US financial institutions and businesses over the past month using phone-based social engineering.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — WASHINGTON (Web Desk) - Ransom-seeking hackers have targeted dozens of prominent US financial institutions and businesses over the past month using phone-based social engineering tactics designed to s…
https://dunyanews.tv/en/Technology/966656-hackers-target-maj…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Ransom-seeking hackers who use phone calls to compromise their victims targeted dozens of prominent U.S. financial institutions and other businesses over the past month, according to Google and intern…
https://www.forth.news/stories/CdngHUZn6hP5hAxnDmwnj
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Ransom-seeking hackers targeted dozens of prominent US financial institutions and other major businesses over the past month, according to a report.
https://nypost.com/2026/08/07/business/hackers-use-simple-ph…
info
Claim 10: “The hackers also built custom websites to steal passwords from staff at private equity firms and financial companies”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim is entirely irrelevant, consisting of Wikipedia entries about Antarctica.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an av…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Because Antarctica surrounds the South Pole, it is theoretically located in all time zones. For practical purposes, time zones are usually based on territorial claims or the time zone of a station's o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The first official use of the name Antarctica as a continental name in the 1890s is said to have been used by Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 by …
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica
verified
Claim 11: “the targeted firms included Blackstone, Bridgewater Associates, Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital, KKR, TPG, CME Group, Clearlake Capital and Moody’s”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general Wikipedia entries for the companies mentioned (Blackstone, Alphabet, Morgan Stanley) but does not contain any information linking these specific firms to the hacking campaign described.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was created through a restructuring of Google on October 2, 2015, and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_Inc.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The S&P SmallCap 600 (S&P 600) stock market index, maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices, comprises the common stocks of 600 small-cap, mostly American, companies. Although called the "S&P 600", the ind…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S&P_600_companies
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more tha…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Stanley
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 12: “Austin Larsen, principal threat analyst at the Google Threat Intelligence Group”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence consists of general information about the city of Austin, Texas, and unrelated Wikipedia entries (Brazil, Edmund Hillary, ShinyHunters). There is no mention of an individual named Austin Larsen at Google.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is also the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh-largest by population, with over 213…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, he and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to h…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — ShinyHunters is a black-hat criminal hacker and extortion group that has been active since 2019 and is said to have been involved in a significant number of data breaches. ShinyHunters has utilized c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShinyHunters
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
Claim 13: “The attackers steer the victims toward malicious, booby-trapped websites utilizing domain names such as “passkeyhelpdesk.””
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for this specific claim.
schedule
Claim 14: “The attackers pursued ride-hailing company Uber, online real estate broker Zillow and clothing brand Levi Strauss.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 15: “The attackers are allegedly able to manipulate caller ID systems to display the legitimate internal help desk phone number”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence consists of search results for EarthLink, an ISP, which is completely irrelevant to the claim about caller ID spoofing by hackers.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us.
https://webmail1.earthlink.net/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — At EarthLink, we’re more than just your provider – we’re your internet partner you trust. Even better, we’re more widely available than any other ISP in the continental U.S. Bypass the frustrations an…
https://www.earthlink.net/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Please enter the following to access your Account. Please enter the 6-digit code you received. This code will expire in 72 hours.
https://login.earthlink.net/start
info
Claim 16: “several unnamed companies were successfully breached and paid ransoms”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists only of dictionary definitions for the word 'several' and does not provide any factual information regarding companies paying ransoms.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 6 days ago · The meaning of SEVERAL is separate or distinct from one another. How to use several in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/several
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — SEVERAL definition: 1. some; an amount that is not exact but is fewer than many: 2. separate or different: 3. some…. Learn more.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/several
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 9, 2026 · While “couple” usually refers to two items or people, “several” is generally used to describe a larger number. It is often used to indicate a number greater than a couple and a few, but …
https://englishstudyonline.org/few-vs-couple-vs-several/
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.