Poker players targeted in phone hacking

Some of the game’s biggest names, including Vanessa Rousso, Dan Smith, and Vanessa Selbst, have been victims of criminal activity this week.

A number of well-known poker pros have been the target of a phone hacking scandal according to Twitter this week.

The most famous among them, Vanessa Selbst, Vanessa Rousso, Cate Hall, and Dan Smith, lost control of their phones and their synced social media accounts on Tuesday. In Rousso’s case, Tweets were published calling for help saying that her family were being held hostage as if she was in trouble before she later publicly announced that her account had been hacked.

Hackers were also able to go through Vanessa Selbst’s smartphone and, by claiming to be her, were able to change her pin number twice and gain access everything the phone held.

There is no known record of how many in the poker community were effected but Dan Smith was also hacked and was among the first to highlight the issue.

Some accounts got hacked last night, don't western union money please.

Idiot hackers should have tried this before scoop/Monaco 🙂

— Dan Smith (@DanSmithHolla) May 23, 2017

How They’re Doing It: Doug Polk’s safety tips

Motives or the hackers' international whereabouts are unclear but with many people choosing to bank through their smartphones these days, a professional millionaire’s e-wallet, bank account or alternative cryptocurrency would be a significant draw.

Doug Polk took to YouTube to provide updates and commentary as the story developed and also provided some internet security advice that any of us would do well to follow.

What do you do to keep your phone secure? Let us know in the comments.