Possible Amazon scam

[alywin]

Over the past 3 months or so I've had a fair number of 'Amazon' calls from a selection of numbers, all recorded messages and obviously up to no good.

Be careful of the "Amazon Prime" one: a friend lost a lot of money that way - she's still not quite sure how they managed to access her account :(

[oddoneout]

Be careful of the "Amazon Prime" one: a friend lost a lot of money that way - she's still not quite sure how they managed to access her account :(

Did they access her account initially or did she inadvertently give them sufficient information in responding to the call?
Any mention of Prime confirms scam status for me since I have never used it - not much point if I don't use Amazon in the first place!

[Leinster Lass]

Did they access her account initially or did she inadvertently give them sufficient information in responding to the call?
Any mention of Prime confirms scam status for me since I have never used it - not much point if I don't use Amazon in the first place!

I was understandably dismissive of a phone call concerning the 'accident involving my car' a few weeks previously - I've never driven, let alone owned, one. It's comforting in a way to know that 'they' don't know everything! I wonder what proportion of the recipients of these calls needs to respond for the perpetrators to make a profit?

[kernelbogey]

Except that scammers duck and dodge and change numbers possibly faster than a blocker can block?

My understanding is that many/most/all of these calls are randomly generated by computer: the caller knows nothing about you. I have no compunction in hanging up without saying a word. Nonetheless I employ call blocker, as their system may record that someone on the number called did pick up - so potentially worth calling again.

A novelty the other day was a recorded message to my mobile claiming to be from HMRC 'investigating a fraud': 'press one for further information; if you don't press one you may end up in prison'. So implausible that it was obviously a fishing scam.

[oddoneout]

My understanding is that many/most/all of these calls are randomly generated by computer: the caller knows nothing about you. I have no compunction in hanging up without saying a word. Nonetheless I employ call blocker, as their system may record that someone on the number called did pick up - so potentially worth calling again.

A novelty the other day was a recorded message to my mobile claiming to be from HMRC 'investigating a fraud': 'press one for further information; if you don't press one you may end up in prison'. So implausible that it was obviously a fishing scam.

I have read that answering such a call, even if there is no spoken exchange, then identifies the number as a live line, which will/can be targeted again.

[Leinster Lass]

I have read that answering such a call, even if there is no spoken exchange, then identifies the number as a live line, which will/can be targeted again.

That happened to me recently. I think the first call came from Thailand. The second - which I didn't answer - followed after just a few minutes and came from a mobile phone.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I worked in a regulatory/investigatory role. We got updates on trends in fraud. The ingenuity of fraudsters was something to behold....

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

(The title of this website - assume its you who has to take action. I should think that the likelihood of any report of fraud resulting in investigation which would result in investigation (let alone taken to prosecution) is a fraction of 1%)


If a landline is answered in the daytime, then it puts one in a group of the population more likely to be in the elderly section of the population (that was in the days before there was much homeworking). And if the call recipient is in that group they may light on someone who can be confused and duped**.

** Regrettably we have read of building tradesmen "door knockers" who (I have come to conclude) are looking for people who are vulnerable - just about managing to live independantly but not able to handle a forceful tradesman. Court cases have highlighted people being conned into paying £thousands for unnecessary building work (often on roofs) by tradesmen who sell on the names and addresses of the victims once they judge they shouldn't contact them again. When I moved in to my present house, neighbours told me my immediate neighbour was a solitary, difficult type and it would be easy for him to fall out with me. We kept on good but distant terms but it eventually transpired, with hindsight that over the years he was suffering from progressive dementia, which I had put down to eccentricity.

We maintain a landline and will be on lists which are "sold on" to new groups of scamsters - hence we get pulses of calls. I used to answer them. However, it is Mrs CS who is keen to keep on the landline so now I leave calls to go to the answering machine in normal circumstances. About 95% of them are from scamsters. We're not in the confused victim category yet and I trust our financial management will be handed on to family to handle at the right point. Any genuine contact who wants to speak to me has my mobile or can message me to get a return call.

When in the past I picked the phone up, I had to be careful - on the rare occasions it was a genuine call, I couldn't launch into my short message "Take me off your list; no-one here will be tricked by your call" - phone down.