Amazon Scam

I had this call this morning, for the same amount of money.
The phone was put down smartly.

I had a live call from them, checked my account and nothing amiss.
I did not give out any information. Just ended the call.

We have call guardian and hardly ever receive even a marketing call. I do get the scam emails though and despair of how increasing numbers are making it into my inbox. Once they'd almost always be filtered into junk. Scam texts occasionally, but I always go online myself to check it out. I never use links even if I think they're genuine.
Husband always used to tell the IT callers we don't have a computer, and once he played completely daft saying how kind you're going to give us one?

Oh yes, I owe a lot of money to HMRC as well and someone is coming to arrest me.

As well as Amazon ....

Millie22

They are some awful nasty people involved in these scams. If they find someone who seems a bit 'gullible' sorry about that word they then pass the person's phone number on to other scammers. Did anyone read that the head of HMRC actually had a scam call himself.

there is a big trade in suckers lists.
any response, eg answering the phone, get you added to such a list, which are compiled and circulated for fat profit.
there is no honour among thieves. and no such thing as a free lunch, nor a free suckers list.
it's best to let all unknown callers go to answerphone.
and get caller display for landline. call guardian is excellent.

It happened to me last week as soon as they said I had placed an order for £330 I put the phone down.Blow me just 2 hours later I got another call from Microsoft I put the phone down,I had 1 yesterday but I did not let them say anything.I can sort of tell as usually there is a pause so I just put the phone down.Some one asked if these calls are increasing and I definitely think they are.

Callistimon that is so horrible. That's the problem with these things. The effects can range from that initial panic even if only lasts seconds to extreme distress and worry. I think it's even harder in current times.
How awful for you SIL's mum. If a recipient didn't now better, enough to give anyone a heart attack or extreme anxiety at the very least. They are indeed horrible people behind such scams.

Yes, it was just shocking for her to read the words, I think. She knew it wasn't right (he's never been to Africa and we knew exactly where he was although he wasn't with us). It had gone to her business address and she and her son were the business owners, that's where they must have got their names from.

They are some awful nasty people involved in these scams. If they find someone who seems a bit 'gullible' sorry about that word they then pass the person's phone number on to other scammers. Did anyone read that the head of HMRC actually had a scam call himself.

theres another scam. you get a text from 'Royal Mail' saying they have a parcel for you and a link to go online and pay £2.99 shipping to get parcel. Delete, it's a scam. Go to official Royal Mail site where you will see a warning about this scam.
never put your card details in because they'll take all your money not just £2.99

I get these calls quite often. Usually early in the morning and they wake me up.

Last week after making a booking for a cottage on booking.com I received an e-mail on my mobile phone supposedly from them. It said something went wrong with my booking and that I should re-set my password with their link. I was rather suspicious so I phoned booking.com with our land line phone. The operator said they had never sent the e-mail, and I should just delete it. Another type of scam no doubt!

I have had the same call yesterday and today, a recorded message supposedly from Amazon. I have never had a call from Amazon in the past. I would recommend using a website called "who called me". You can search the number to see if others have had the same call. You can also report the problem on the website so that others are aware.

We get a lot of these calls. Amazon / BT / etc
Eventually they will ask you to log onto TEAMVIEWER. This gives them control of your computer.

I always accept the calls these days (used to just put the phone down). I have a whistle by the phone now and they get a blast from that when I'm put through to a ^real* person . I'm starting to get less calls now.

Blocking the calls doesn't help as this people have an enormous bank of numbers they can use.

I read somewhere that these automated calls start after you speak.
So if you pick the phone up, but don't say anything, the call cuts off.
Any genuine caller will of course speak to you.
I've tried this and it seems to work.

Thanks Callistemon, I realise I'm probably quite a novice as far as being scammed is concerned, hope it stays like that. I welcome hearing other people's experiences though, I need to be more savvy in this unfortunate aspect of everyday life.

How awful for you SIL's mum. If a recipient didn't now better, enough to give anyone a heart attack or extreme anxiety at the very least. They are indeed horrible people behind such scams.

We've had several such communications advising us that friends were stuck somewhere or other without any money knowing full well that wasn't the case.

Callistimon that is so horrible. That's the problem with these things. The effects can range from that initial panic even if only lasts seconds to extreme distress and worry. I think it's even harder in current times.

DD and I were with SIL's mum when she had a letter sent to her business address saying her son had been killed in a car crash in Africa and she needed to contact the sender of the letter to discuss his estate and will. Of course, she needed to lodge a considerable sum of money with them before they could release the money.
Although she knew full well it wasn't true and he was at his house with my DH, she was very distressed.

These people have no feelings.

Terribull we have had lots of calls, purportedly from Amazon and other organisations.

Yes, we should get call-minder

This morning I got an automated phone call from "BT" telling me my landline would be cut off.

Then I got a phone call from a Real Person from "BT" with a rather strong accent asking if I was aware that other people were using our internet line and this was happening to several people in various areas. He could help me with this problem so I did have a nice chat with him and asked questions, made comments. He then asked what devices we had in the house - PC? Laptop? etc so I said none and we don't have the internet either. He put the phone down abruptly.

Yes you've triggered my memory Flexible Friend, just as I dropped the phone I remember now the message said "if this wasn't you contact them". Sadly I wonder how many people do just that

Mine was to say the order was over a £1000 and if it wasn't me to contact them. I just ignored it. I order a great deal from Amazon so check my account most days and knew there was no dodgy order there.

Laria yes you are right that's what my husband told me, I usually do look at numbers and don't answer if I don't recognise them. However we have moved recently, new phone number and have contacted several local workman asking for quotes etc., I think I expected it to be one of them.

Thank you Dorsetcupcake for sharing your experiences and to everybody else who has posted, I think it's good to let others know about anything untoward that has happened personally.

I will be wiser the next time

Good advice LaRia44.
My smart phone can be set to identify scam numbers. Also often if you google the telephone number it will appear on websites such as Who Called Me . Very useful info there.

Terribull please dont feel foolish. The aim of these scams is to panic you into doing something unwise like giving them bank/ card details.
I've had some very legitimate looking emails off PayPal, Amazon saying my account has been frozen and need to update bank details! The PayPal one fell flat straight away as it involved a type of account I dont even have! I frequently use Amazon and like others have said I always log into my account to check for notifications and of course there are non.
One particularly unpleasant one last year was by letter. It was very professionally done and told the recipient that they had committed some misdemeanor with Tax or NI and unless they called the number immediately and paid the fine they would be sent to prison. My daughters partner in his 20s knew on a logical level he hadnt done anything wrong he was just about to call. Fortunately he was here and I told him that's not how HMRC would act.
It is difficult as at the moment a lot of people are shopping and banking online. Sadly people can lose money if cards /bank details are copied etc or links on suspect emails are opened. Some scams are pretty obvious,one you take time to calm a little. Some are extremely clever.
Certainly never give any personal details out. Reputable companies will be perfectly happy if you are uncertain.
A very good source of information is citizens advice.org.uk. if you search for scams it will tell you what to look for and what to do if you are the victim of one.

I have caller display and I don’t answer any numbers I don’t recognise. These calls are increasing., 5 in the last 2 days.
If they don’t get an answer first try, they keep on ringing on other numbers.
Anyone who knows me is stored in my phone.
I don’t give out my landline number.
I get scam texts too, just delete them. I did check with a building society I have an account with, they checked and found nothing amiss, so never log on to a link provided, check by ringing your bank.