BBB Scam Alert: Phony Amazon Callers Phishing for Info
MEMPHIS (June 8) – The BBB is warning Mid-Southerners to be on the lookout for suspicious calls in which the callers are posing as Amazon. It appears that scammers are blanketing the Mid-South with these robocalls. Mid-Southerners have reported about 50 such calls to BBB of the Mid-South’s Scam Tracker.
Some of the reports say calls have been displaying “Unknown Caller” or “V 800 Serv” on caller ID, while others mimic the area code and prefix numbers of the recipient. Today’s technology makes spoofing phone numbers extremely easy to accomplish.
Consumers describe answering a phone call and hearing a recorded message claiming to be from Amazon stating that there has been a fraudulent charge on their Amazon Prime account for several hundreds of dollars. Regardless of the message, these scammers have the same goal: getting personal information. The con artists will either outright ask for credit card and account login details, or they will request remote access to a person’s computer under the guise of helping to solve the issue.
A 90-year-old Memphis woman who doesn’t have an Amazon account answered one of the calls after they wouldn’t stop coming. “I couldn’t get any sleep,” she told BBB. “They just kept calling and calling at all hours.” She tried explaining that the caller had reached the wrong person, but the calls continued.
Another Memphis woman let the first call go unanswered because the caller ID said “Unknown Caller.” But when the next call came through with an individual’s name and a local phone number whose prefix matched hers, she picked it up. She subsequently got over 25 more of the calls the same day. “This is a ridiculous amount of harassment,” she told BBB.
Here’s how to spot this scam:
Be skeptical of email and unsolicited calls. Amazon will never ask someone to disclose or verify sensitive personal information or offer a person a refund he/she does not expect. Amazon will never ask someone to make a payment outside of its website and will never ask a person for remote access to his/her device.
Ignore unsolicited messages and calls that ask for personal information. Amazon will never send someone an unsolicited message that asks he/she to provide sensitive personal information, such as a person’s tax ID, bank account number or credit card information.
Ignore calls for immediate action. Scammers try to get a person to act before he thinks by creating a sense of urgency. Don’t fall for it.
Beware of odd payment requests. These are requests to pay via wire transfer, prepaid debit card or CashApp (such as Venmo, MoneyPak, iTunes or similar cards). These are almost always a sign of fraud.
What to do if you get these calls:
If you get an unexpected call or message about a problem with any of your accounts:
Hang up.
Do not press 1 to speak with customer support.
Do not call a phone number they gave you.
Do not give out your personal information.
Do not press any button claiming that they will remove your number from their list.
If you think there might actually be a problem with one of your accounts, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real.
If you’ve gotten a phony call or been the victim of another scam, make others aware by filing a report on BBB Scam Tracker.
I RECEIVED an email thanking me for my order. I have never ordered anything from amazon. It was for a play station valued at $450.90. I was told to call if I wanted to cancel order to be delivered to a person in Florida. I called and was
andtold to go to a store and get $500.00 of goggle play cards which I foolishly did it was to block US and Canada calls and I did this 2 more times so I have been scammed for $1500.00. I have always been very carefull of scams .The order had a tracking number and order number. I do not know how I will pay for this on my master card as we are on a fixed income.I wonder if you can do anything to help. Thanks
I RECEIVED an email thanking me for my order. I have never ordered anything from amazon. It was for a play station valued at $450.90. I was told to call if I wanted to cancel order to be delivered to a person in Florida. I called and was
andtold to go to a store and get $500.00 of goggle play cards which I foolishly did it was to block US and Canada calls and I did this 2 more times so I have been scammed for $1500.00. I have always been very carefull of scams .The order had a tracking number and order number. I do not know how I will pay for this on my master card as we are on a fixed income.I wonder if you can do anything to help. Thanks the phone # is1-833-610-1507 0rder #1T76545 and delivered toDavid H Banns 1360 Raintree Lane wellington, Florida 33414 USA- tracking #8764755362310 sold by John Densmore- email address amazonbillinginfo@amazonbilling115.com I live in Ontario Canada
I got the same email, almost exactly, down to the name “sold by John Densmore” and sent to “David H Banns”, same address. I knew immediately it was a scam. Even the font for “Amazon” looked wrong, things there that looked like links weren’t links. I found you here with a google search for those items.
Why did you think sending someone money on google play cards would even fix it? Did you think Amazon would have requested that? My sister got caught in the same kind of thing. Next time listen to those warning bells in your mind that say “this doesn’t sound right”. Ask for a phone number where you can call them back, hang up and then do a google search for that phone number. If the search results don’t come back as a number that sounds like the official place they claim to represent then it’s a scam.
If they say, don’t hang up, you have to do this now in the next hour or you’ll loose any chance of cancelling the charge then it is COMPLETELY bogus. No respectable business will do that. It doesn’t work that way. If they say, you can’t hang up or you’re screwed … again, a respectable business will NEVER say that.
Sorry, but the way you did what you did… there’s no way to undo it. You’re never getting that money back. Expensive lesson.
Dave