Scam. Coincidence or worse?

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Scam. Coincidence or worse?

This topic has 26 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 14 February 2022 at 11:50 by Nigel Graham 2.

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11 February 2022 at 11:07 #585030
pgk pgk
Participant
@pgkpgk17461
My mobile phone died yesterday so another was ordered from Amazon for £399. Today I get a call on the landline – a recorded message claiming to be from Amazon regarding a correct model phone purchase yesterday being suspicious in the sum of £599 and options to press 1 or 2 to report or discuss.
It was a very convincing, well-spoken recording.

I hung up and just checked my Amazon account – not signs of an issue there and I've never given Amazon the landline number so pretty sure the call is fishing – but more to the point is the timing. I should add I’m paranoid enough to have desktop cameras and microphones not only switched off but covered and no voice 'assistants'

As a coincidence it's remarkable or there are security holes between me, amazon, the credit card company etc

Or the call was genuine and I'll see an email or change to the account in due course, which would still beg the question as to how my number was found.

pgk
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11 February 2022 at 11:07 #36747
pgk pgk
Participant
@pgkpgk17461
11 February 2022 at 11:25 #585040
Engine Builder
Participant
@enginebuilder
I wonder if someone working inside Amazon gives the details to a scammer.

I had a similar experience waiting for a package from china. The tracking showed it had arrived in the country.

I got a text from an unknown source saying my package was held at customs and a fee to pay.

i ignored it and it turned up but was later than expected.

Thinking someone at sorting depot had put it asside and waited for my responce, then gave up and put it back in the mail for delivery.
11 February 2022 at 11:33 #585045
KWIL
Participant
@kwil
I also had a recent call about a "suspect" purchase charged against my card.

Same as with pgk pgk, Amazon do not have my (ex dir) number so I dropped the call.

Nothing on my account….
11 February 2022 at 11:35 #585046
Grindstone Cowboy
Participant
@grindstonecowboy
More likely just coincidence, had the same call a few weeks ago and I hadn't bought a phone, same thing with the mother in law, and she hadn't bought a phone either.

Rob
11 February 2022 at 11:37 #585047
Hopper
Participant
@hopper
Do you have up-to-date anti-virus software such as Norton or MacAfee etc? Your computer is an open book if not.
11 February 2022 at 12:01 #585054
John Baron
Participant
@johnbaron31275
Your computer is an open book !

Just about every web page has some kind of spyware attached, as has many Emails. Though getting your Ex directory phone No: has to be via some other source. Probably a third party that has been compromised !
11 February 2022 at 12:01 #585055
Anonymous
It's a coincidence. Hundreds of thousands of these automated calls are made using a sequence of numbers, irrespective of the numbers being valid or not. Only a tiny fraction of one percent of the calls will hit the mark, but it's enough to make money.

Andrew
11 February 2022 at 12:29 #585056
HOWARDT
Participant
@howardt
It is a scam, wanting you to press number so maybe keeping line open and hoping for you to type in details of accounts, bank or Amazon. I had a friendly Indian lady wanting to upgrade my O2 mobile account the other day, hung up immediately as don’t have account with them, used to but switched. Never give any details to anyone. I always log on to accounts on another device whenever I get suspicious call.
11 February 2022 at 12:42 #585059
pgk pgk
Participant
@pgkpgk17461
Posted by Hopper on 11/02/2022 11:37:18:

Do you have up-to-date anti-virus software such as Norton or MacAfee etc? Your computer is an open book if not.

Indeed I do as well as routinely wiping cookies etc at end of every session and scanning with ccleaner and regular malwarebyte scans. But nothing is total proof against bad actors – just don't make it too easy for them.

pgk
11 February 2022 at 13:43 #585065
Mick B1
Participant
@mickb1
I got a recorded voice message about 2 card transactions the morning after having made significant (for me) card payments to 2 separate companies.

They got the amounts considerably wrong and also the wrong card issuer, so the information they have is very incomplete – but in all probability they have infiltrated general bank transaction data traffic to some degree, since it's hard to see any other way they'd've been alerted to multiple separate transactions.

Obviously don't ever use the link such messagers offer.
11 February 2022 at 14:47 #585073
DutchDan
Participant
@dutchdan
It sounds like a scam to me.

I've found that amazon customer service is very good. I'd raise it with them.

Amazon uses their own amazon web services which are about as secure as you can get them. They also have lots of tracing functionality, so if one of their agents accessed your accounts I'd expect them to be able to see it.

In the meantime it might be worth changing your password to amazon (and anywhere else if you re-use that password) and checking your browser is up to date etc.
11 February 2022 at 17:02 #585091
Tony Pratt 1
Participant
@tonypratt1
I had a similar scenario with Virgin media, I think their employees were selling customer contacts.

Tony
11 February 2022 at 18:11 #585101
JA
Participant
@ja
It may be coincidence or it may be an inside job. You will never know. If it is the latter Amazon, or Virgin, will soon find the person and sack him/her. But they won't tell you. I try very hard not to use Amazon or Virgin and I don't use eBay.

I downloaded an upgrade for my PC's graphic card from Lenovo/AMD a few weeks ago and something very nasty also arrived. It slowed my PC down, put a mask on my browser so it could read everything I typed onto the internet and disconnected me from my email providers. It took me an afternoon to cure and clean the computer but it has made me very jumpy. Lots of full virus scans have been done since then.

If you want security don't go on the internet. Even that is not foolproof as the Iranians found out.

JA
11 February 2022 at 18:36 #585103
pgk pgk
Participant
@pgkpgk17461
Just to add to the story – the parcel was delivered – just sadly not to me, and the photo just shows it next to some vertical planking I don't recognise. Currently waiting for DPD to retrieve and redeliver and I’ve notified the Amazon seller.
This area is so rural that the postcode covers a large area and trying to guess where it is it a waste of time unless obvious. Wife recently has a mis-delivered parcel picture – her parcel next to a field gate. There’s lots of fields here! In her case Hermes recovered and redelivered but it took a few days. It’s annoying 'cos DPD does regular deliveries to us and the usual guys are top-notch. They probably used a special since it was a next day item.

I would guess that any data leak re the phone call would have been from the amazon seller rather than amazon themselves

pgk
11 February 2022 at 18:56 #585104
Samsaranda
Participant
@samsaranda
I religiously check my credit card account on line for entries that shouldn’t be there, last year noticed an entry for about £30.00 that wasn’t there the day before and I definitely hadn’t made. Phoned my bank, who are my credit card provider, and was put through to their fraud department, the chap who dealt with me was actually working from home, and he was able to pinpoint the town and IP address of the computer that had made the fraudulent entry. No problem he authorised a refund straight away and organised a replacement card. I am careful with any of my personal details and never use the debit card for my current account online, I just use my credit card for purchases online and pay it all off straight away, it’s surprising how easily credit card details are cloned and fraud takes place. Quite a few years ago my debit card details were cloned in a petrol station and the fraudsters took £1600, bank were very good and immediately refunded it, never use my debit card nowadays. It seems as though there is a pandemic of fraud nowadays. Dave W
11 February 2022 at 19:27 #585106
JimmieS
Participant
@jimmies
Re ex-directory numbers. I had been ex-d for over 40 years and, on transferring from Talktalk to Now (Sky) some months ago thought that I still was. It appears that Now do not provide that service. Should anyone know better would they tell me.
11 February 2022 at 21:29 #585130
mark costello 1
Participant
@markcostello1
Evidentally in 2010 My daughter used My computer to send an email to Her College, 2 computer total crashes, total restores and a hard drive replaced along with up graded mother board, and 2 laptops, one destroyed and this one, got a new 5g phone now. Google showed the original email as being saved, never showed up anywhere till now. Tracking You think?
11 February 2022 at 22:08 #585140
DMB
Participant
@dmb
1 Don't dab links in any messages

2 Don't use same password on more than one site or forum.

3. Don't just add an extra character to the password as a prefix or suffix, as a new password, it's not strong enough.

4. Do change passwords frequently. If a site gets done over and thousands of details leaked and sold on the dark web the misused, you won't see the site owner admitting incident until months later. Too late the to stop theft of personal information and access to any number of your browsings, including your bank account.

5. Do initiate your contact with a site then you can be more confident of it being the real thing, not a scammers fake site.

6. Don't let anyone rush or panic you – scammers want you to do things in a hurry and make mistakes like releasing personal details. However "urgent" the need, slow down and think about what you're being urged to do.

Lots of warnings similar to above issued by Which? Magazine, my bank, Martin Lewis and plenty of other sources. Remember, emails and forums are insecure so don't quote postal addresses, phone number or email addresses.

Take very great care.
11 February 2022 at 22:13 #585141
DMB
Participant
@dmb
One year, I got a new landline phone number from my phone and broadband supplier and later changed supplier. Ended up with four different numbers in a year! That got rid of pest calls. When I change supplier, I change the number as well. Bit of a nuisance informing those that need to know but it keeps silent more these days.
11 February 2022 at 22:15 #585143
Nigel McBurney 1
Participant
@nigelmcburney1
Had a landline call 2 weeks ago, my wife took the call ,lady enquired if we were expecting a parcel from Amazon value £79 ,my wife answered dont think so i will pass the phone to my husband as soon as I took it and said hello the line went dead, since then i have wondered what it was about as I was a expecting a parcel of a lot higher value.By the way has anyone had trouble logging on to BT broadband lately ,bt supplied a new router last week,but service has got worse, at the moment I try to log on ,nothing hapens then a blank screen comes up with three black dots flashing and will stay like this until I log out of Safari.Engineer visiting next monday.
12 February 2022 at 09:38 #585170
pgk pgk
Participant
@pgkpgk17461
More on yesterday's parcel missing..
Webchat with DPD and had a call this am from a manager – nice chap, explained they're pretty hot on sorting things and usually get it done within 3-5 days. Also told me that (as I hoped) their delivery pics have GPS metadata.
He claimed parcel was with my neighbour. Now the nearest neighbour to the East is 250yds but to the West we're looking at 1 mile by crow – further by land. I asked if this was West or East which confused him – he decided East. I've been there and know those folks well – no sign of parcel and no possibility from the limited pic that it could be there – had a chat and apologised for early Sunday wake-up.
Back to DPD – as you'd guess they won't share the GPS coordinates so down to them to find and re-deliver or refund seller – darned nuisance when we're are all now dependant on mobile phones.
Yes, I’ve also been onto the seller which is a robot until after the w/e.
Reality of all this modern automation is how much more time everyone wastes getting anything done.

pgk
13 February 2022 at 08:44 #585241
DMB
Participant
@dmb
7 Don't forget to do a daily antivirus scan – very effective!

8. Possible dodgy emails from unknown senders – "if in doubt, chuck it out!"

9. Main principle, you go to a site for something that you want. Don't click on sites that approach you.
13 February 2022 at 09:11 #585244
pgk pgk
Participant
@pgkpgk17461
10. It’s not paranoia when they're out to get you.

pgk
13 February 2022 at 10:13 #585254
Howi
Participant
@howi
Posted by pgk pgk on 13/02/2022 09:11:08:

10. It’s not paranoia when they're out to get you.

pgk

Oh! yes it is……..
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