Scammers Are Targeting Amazon Prime Members
In late November and early December 2020 several people in social media and news outlets have reported a new scam targeting Amazon Prime members. Scammers are trying to access account information by placing phone calls to customers.
The scammers called people’s phones with pre-recorded messages, saying they have large balances on their Amazon Prime accounts. They claim to be “Amazon Prime Security,” and say their Amazon account has been compromised. But there were no fraudulent charges or balances in the accounts. The scammers are just attempting to get customers to give over personal or account information so that they could steal their money.
This is called a ‘business imposter scam’, and the FTC created a page earlier this year warning people about it. The message with “say that your credit card has been charged a large amount of money for some order. Then, they’ll give you the Amazon Support phone number and tell you to immediately call if you didn’t make that purchase,” the FTC warns.
And that is exactly what is happening. In one case reported by Detroit Free Press, Ron Kroll just finished buying six or seven gifts online for his grandchildren. So when he got a phone call from Amazon that claimed that he had $799.75 in charges on his account, he thought it could be real and panicked. The recording advised him that he needed to press 1 now if he did not make those purchases to connect with an Amazon representative. Kroll said he rushed to press 1 but ultimately fumbled making the return call immediately because he was wearing gloves and hit the wrong numbers a few times too many.
FTC says that you should do the following if you receive such calls that seem suspicious, or that ask for personal information:
- Hang up. Don’t call them back on the number they gave you. If you’re concerned about an order you didn’t place, contact the business through a customer service phone number or email you know is legitimate. You can usually find a company’s real information on their website.
- Check your credit card account. If you see a charge you don’t recognize, file a dispute with your credit card company immediately.
- Report the fake call to the business. Make sure to use the contact information from their website – not the information from the phone call. You can also report the call to the FTC.
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I received an email from Amazon (phishing) saying my account had been compromised and to click the tab to update my profile. I closed out the email, went into my actual Amazon account to the message center or security alert and my account was fine. So I deleted my email. My 82 yr old stepfather on 11/16/20 opened an email that said he’d been hacked. (He has some dementia). He called the number and 4 1/2 hrs later, after a bolo was put out on him and the sheriff’s office pinged his phone, we found him. The scammer had taken advantage of his delicate mind and scanned 3600.00 in ebay, Google play and target gift cards or of him. Luckily, I was in banking for 30 years and immediately the next day after piecing this altogether. I was able to get the cc company to shut the card down. They blocked the charges and he was refunded his money. It’s an awful thing what these scanners do to the elderly who are so uncertain.
Amazon occasionally calls immediately after a balance reload to verify that the reload is legitimate. Been through this many times, ignoring the call or declining to confirm gets your account locked needing a password reset. Many of their other employees are not aware of this, and insist that Amazon never initiates contact with voice calls.
I received this same scam via email earlier in the week.
Yup, I got this call just today! I hung up. Amazon wouldn’t robocall me if there was a real problem.
Some people still answer calls from unknown numbers? How strange….