Remote Access Fraud

What Is Remote Access Fraud?

Remote access fraud is a scam-based attack in which threat actors manipulate victims into granting remote access to their device or active session, allowing attackers to observe activity, harvest credentials, or guide actions in real time. These attacks rely on digital impersonation and trust abuse rather than technical exploitation.

Remote access fraud is especially dangerous because it uses legitimate tools, valid credentials, and real user sessions, making malicious activity appear normal to both users and security controls.

How Does Remote Access Fraud Work?

Impersonation and Social Engineering
Attackers pose as trusted brands, financial institutions, or support teams, creating urgency around fabricated issues such as security alerts or account problems.

Use of Legitimate Remote Access Tools
Victims are instructed to install or approve widely used remote access software, such as AnyDesk or TeamViewer, granting attackers live access to their session.

Real-Time Session Abuse
Attackers join the legitimate session from a remote location, observing user activity, capturing credentials or MFA codes, and manipulating what the victim sees.

Fraud and Account Exploitation
With live access or harvested credentials, attackers initiate unauthorized actions, enable account takeover, or steal sensitive data.

Without effective protection, remote access fraud bypasses traditional defenses because the activity occurs inside legitimate sessions using approved tools.

Memcyco’s Solution for Remote Access Fraud

Most defenses detect remote access fraud only after damage occurs, because these attacks originate from recognized devices, use valid credentials, and appear legitimate.
Memcyco takes a different approach by focusing on when attacker-controlled access enters a live user session.

Memcyco does this by:

• Detecting remote access to active user sessions in real time, even when legitimate tools are used

• Alerting organizations when a remote party joins a user’s session under suspicious conditions

• Providing real-time, victim-level visibility into sessions influenced by attackers

• Enabling targeted response actions, such as warnings or blocking sensitive transactions

This allows organizations to disrupt remote access scams while the attack is in progress, before attacker-guided sessions result in fraud, data theft, or account takeover.

Related Reading

• Remote Access Scams: How to Stop Them (and Why Security Teams Miss the Risk)

• Website vs Device Defenses: How to Build a Modern Account Takeover Solution

• 5 Biggest Bank Account Takeover Attacks in Recent Years (and How they Could Have Been Stopped)