Hi guys,
I got a phone call today from a local phone number that looked legitimate. When I answered, I was told by an automated voice that my Amazon account was overdue and that I needed to pay $79.00 to bring it up to date; otherwise, my account would be closed, and Amazon would start legal proceedings against me. To resolve the problem, I needed to press 1 to talk to one of their specialists.
Scam Warning!!
At this point, I knew this was a scam because I don’t have an Amazon account (Shop Locally!!), but I pressed one anyway to learn more about the con so I could let you guys know what to look out for.
This is what happened:
* When I spoke to their specialist, he told me that to process the payment, I would need to install an app on my phone called Anydesk and would also need to give him my credit card details.
* If I had have installed this app, I would have given him full access to my phone so that he could suck down all of my information, including banking info, etc
* If I gave him my card, he would have emptied my account in seconds
The worrying thing was that the whole thing sounded very professional, and I would say thousands of people are scammed in this way every day of the week.
Here is how to protect yourself:
* If you receive a call like this where the caller asks you to install an app, it is a scam. No big company would ever ask you to do this. Tell the caller that you know this is a scam and ask them to remove you from their call list. This will work most of the time, and you will never hear from them again.
* If you are concerned that it is a legitimate call, I suggest that you call the company’s main phone number and ask to be patched through to their extension. This way, you know that you are speaking to an actual company, as you called their mainline.
Would you please share this tip with anyone you know who might be an easy target for a scam like this?
Thanks and have a great day.
All the best,
Max Roberts,
Incognito Privacy Care Team.