Amazon Scam

[Hylander]

We have a BT phone but the bill goes to Sky.   Does that make a difference with these numbers above.

[vanessan]

Found out a bit more about the original scam mentioned re Amazon Prime. Apparently in some cases callers are asked to reconnect to the phone call via their computer (?) and download software called Team Viewer. This then shares the desktop. They are then asked to log in to their bank account to check if they have received a refund from Amazon. No prizes for guessing what transpires! 
I think it is useful if we are able to establish how these scams actually work from beginning to end. However, they are becoming more sophisticated every day so we are probably nearly at the point where it will be best to boycott all phone calls where the caller is not known.  ☹️

[eddybear]

14 minutes ago, vanessan said:

I think it is useful if we are able to establish how these scams actually work from beginning to end. However, they are becoming more sophisticated every day so we are probably nearly at the point where it will be best to boycott all phone calls where the caller is not known.  ☹️

I agree if my phone was just for private calls friends and family I could do just that, unfortunately it's a business line and there is no way you can control calls you get, yes BT offer a service whereby the caller states their name or company and then waits for you to receive a recorded message and if you want to speak to them you then pick up the phone, don't think that would work with a business I think people would just slammed the phone down and phone somebody else.

[Markw]

Some of these scams are getting very complex - especially anything IT related.  If you have a look on YouTube - search for baiting scammers - there are many people actually catching some of these scammers out & completely wasting their time, even turning the tables and connecting back onto the scammers computer and supposedly deleting all their files - it is very entertaining to watch & judging by the comments - many people have been caught out...

The scams are really complex - in a nutshell - scammer calls to say they are from Microsoft or Apple (as most people use either / or ) usually & that your  computer support is ending & they owe you a refund.  They ask to connect to your system (via Team Viewer or similar software) - ask you to log into your back account online - they then 'upload' a form / page for you to fill in online - they ask you to type the amount of the refund in and as you are doing this they add an extra zero or 1 and hit enter before you get chance to query it  - bear in mind this is the refund to you - supposedly - during this time they take various screenshots that you are sharing with them to make it look like you have been credited too much money into your account & start threatening legal / police action if you do not refund it to them.  How do they want the refund? - in store cards (such as Costco etc) - they want you to go & get store cards & give them the card codes over the phone - they even stay on the phone whilst you drive to the store... etc etc etc - presumably then they are selling these codes online to others...

This really does sound so far fetched - especially as i type it - but there are many people on YouTube catching these guys out & recording the calls / screenshots etc - go have a look.

I work in IT myself and was amazed at the lengths they are going to....

 

 

 

[LizG]

Our neighbourhood watch group has just sent out an email relating to the Amazon scam and I was just about to copy and paste the email, when I see the points mentioned have already been covered................

 

"However, it did say...................If you receive these type of calls please report the instances to  www.actionfraud.police.uk"

The emails also mentioned the TV License Scam which I assume has also been covered............but just in case.........

"We would like to make residents aware of the continuing TV Licence scam.
It would appear that an email is sent to customers stating that the payment for their TV Licence could not be taken and to click on a link.
Once clicking on the link the customer would be contacted by phone and the person on the other end of the phone was somone pretending to be from the customer's bank stating that their bank account needed freezing and they would have to transfer their money into a new account.
The customer was told to use a specific browser where they would be asked to put in their bank account details and the scammers would then use this information to extract money from their account.
Should anyone receive any communication regarding their payments for their TV Licence we would suggest that you contact TV Licencing direct via their official website or contact your bank direct"

Hope this helps

Liz