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A new Amazon phone scam has surfaced that is being used to obtain personal information from unsuspecting targets.
The Amazon phone scam is the latest phishing attempt aiming to steal personal information. Scammers often use large, familiar companies in phishing scams, but usually, these are done via malicious email or text links.
Recently, there has been a large increase in phone scams.
According to Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), the scammers are using automated phone calls to tell victims that they have signed up for Amazon Prime and the cost of the subscription is either £7.99 monthly or £79 a year, The Sun reported. Victims are then given a chance to cancel the subscription by pressing “1”.
After the victim presses 1 to cancel, the scammers transfer the call to another swindler, acting as an Amazon representative.
The fraudster continues by telling the targeted individual that the subscription happened due to a security issue on Amazon’s network, according to the CTSI.
The scammers then ask the target if they can obtain remote use to their computer to resolve the data breach issues.
In turn, the fraudsters gain control of the computer and steal private personal data like financial information or passwords.
Giving remote access to anyone can easily make consumers fall prey to having personal information stolen and given to crooks who will use those financial details or passwords to help themselves to customer accounts.
There is a possibility that many people are likely to be duped by this new Amazon phone scam because a large number of people cannot identify scams when they see them.
In research done by TSB, 2,000 people were shown 20 emails and texts with 10 of them being scams, and only 18% of people identified all 10 fraudulent schemes, This Is Money reported.
The CTSI also reports there is an email scam that is similar to the Amazon phone scam.
The Amazon Prime scam sends emails to targets and states they have signed up for a subscription to Amazon music at a rate of £28.99 a month.
Of course, the targets want to cancel because this is not accurate information. Victims will click a phishing link they believe is going to give them a refund.
When the malicious link is clicked and victims contribute their payment information to get a refund, the financial details are sent to fraudsters.
Amazon Prime is a staple in many households, and nearly 7.9 million homes in the U.K. have a subscription. Over the last five years, Amazon Prime has increased in popularity by 6.7 million households.
CTSI lead officer Katherine Hart has noted that people are especially vulnerable to the Amazon phone scam right now due to the pandemic.
Hart stated that the nature of the pandemic has people staying at home and shopping for essentials online.
She urges potential victims to know that “Amazon will never cold-call customers, nor ask for remote computer access or payment over the phone. Do not give any details to the caller, and always verify directly with Amazon by logging into your official account and contacting customer support. Anyone who receives these calls or emails should report them to Action Fraud, or if in Scotland report it to Police Scotland by dialling 101.”
If you or someone you know has fallen victim to the Amazon phone scam or another scam, there are a number of ways to report it.
You can call or email Action Fraud or dial 101 to report the scam to police if in Scotland.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) can be contacted by emailing report@phishing.gov.uk. If you were targeted by the Amazon phone scam, use the spoofing@amazon.com email.
Joining Friends Against Scams or Businesses Against Scams can help you remain proactive against scams.
Have you been the victim of the Amazon phone scam or another scam during the pandemic? Tell us your story in the comments.
Check back daily for the most recent U.K. class action lawsuit and consumer protection news.
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13 thoughts onAmazon Scam Calls Ask Consumers to ‘Press 1’
The Amazon spoof e-mail address doesn’t work – I tried to report an ‘Amazon Prime’ scam call from 07500 350926 but it was returned undeliverable.
calls several times a day , 1 this morning 8 am seemingly from amazon
machine saying £385 i phone being delivered, and card will be debited !!!
didn,t order any phone !!!!!!! promting PRESS 1. BEWARE
phone no this morning 07920888181
can this be stopped!!!!!!!!!!!
We are regularly being contacted by automated phone calls claiming to be from Amazon claiming that someone is ordering goods with a large value and asking me to press 1 to speak to an agent.We have ignored these calls as to the best of our knowledge we do not have an account with Amazon.The phone calls are coming from the following numbers
01603921437 & 01606867663 (Norwich & Northwhich)
The phone number of the scammer was 0460 521 240
The said they were from amazon telling me I would need to pay $79 to continue / i did press one but the Indian voice sounded like a scammer / I said this is a SCAM and hung up
07050089380 and 3 other numbers within 15 mins from scamazon people, they are always people who can hardly speak english and i get so angry and threat these black bstds but it seems to jolly them up so i need another way to stop them, someone said have a loud whistle near the phone but i feel like throttling them, whats my best action, and dont just say hang up, that dosrnt stop them…
i received a phone call from a nice gentleman telling me that my bank account had been hacked and he was going to help me secure my pass words for by bank account and everything else that i use a password as he could tell that i was like himself a nice man for free so i told him this was very nice of him and to show my appreciation if he would give me his address i would forward him free of charge naked pictures of his lovely wife in a threesome with rover the man went mad used language that was not very nice and was still cursing me of when i hung up 2 or 3 minutes later i do hope he got his blood pressure back to normal.
PS. i am a nice man
My Dad been recently caught out by these scammers. Took £700 out of his bank. I fuming with them and told him a million times not to give details out. He’s old and forgetful now. It’s so sad.
I received an automated phone call from a mobile nbr starting 076 today telling me that there was something wrong with Amazon Prime and to press 1. I hung up. I have also received a couple of emails of a similar nature which I deleted. Is there anything I can do to stop these calls/emails?
I received two call in two day from a private number ,stateing that my account with amozon will be bill the problem is U don’t have or never applied for an amozon account and it states if U wish to close my account to press 1 now
First call it hanged up on me the second I hanged up in the call and egnored it
I have had some 5 calls this week alone. They used an automated phone message to tell me that my Amazon subscription of £79 is due to be deducted from my bank account and I should press 1 to speak to an operator if I wished to stop it. From Tel. No. 07507 259013
Today I received an automated call telling me that a suspicious sum of £1,098 was being debited from my Amazon account and I should dial 1 to speak to an Amazon operator. From Tel No’s 07544 633852 & 07536 185515.
How are these people getting hold of these mobile phone lines. They appear to be UK lines and it is time that some Government Department clamped down of the operators letting them have the lines.
Rather than cancel, I told them I would like to keep the subscription (that I never had). So then the story changed to my needing to get onto my computer to keep it.