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Original poster

Amazon scam..almost got caught

142 replies

Dowser · 30/07/2020 21:25

House phone rang and a woman says your amazon prime subscription is due to end, true
She speaks very fast and not a native English speaker and the line is very noisy so I can barely make out what she says
So she says I will help you cancel it.
I ask a question..and she says if you cooperate with me , I will help you cancel it

Now I didn’t like that word...so I’m on red alert .
She wants to know if i have a mobile, tablet or computer ..so I said tablet

So she’s asking me to go into an App Store and download an app

So, I find it..and then in small print, thank god I had my glasses on, I saw , screen sharer

I said, hang on, I’ll have a word with my husband.
He said, that’s not right, it’s a scam, so he took over the call..and I went on amazon website and cancelled the subscription in seconds and screen shotted it.

Anyway he got annoyed with her and put the phone down.
Talk about aggressive, she rang back 5 times
We unplugged the phone in the end

The number was 016 something and looks like it. Could be related to a Vietnamese company vienettel or something . It was a Buxton area code

We put the phone back in again..and another call came through
This time it was 01421 which isn’t assigned to any area.

Anyway, just spoken to my son in law and they had one today too and he was in a shop and heard a guy on the phone getting stroppy with amazon.

I can’t believe how plausible she was..I’d have been more on my guard, if my blooming subscription wasn’t due to end in August.

They are getting too clever these people.

OP posts:
CarlottaValdez · 30/07/2020 21:27

I don’t mean to be rude but why on earth did you find the app even? Considering you were on “red alert”?

CarlottaValdez · 30/07/2020 21:28

Also did you want to cancel your prime? Why hasn’t you done it already?

ittooshallpass · 30/07/2020 21:33

I've no idea what the 'cancel' thing is about or why you'd go and download an app because a stranger on the phone told you to? Seems obvious it was a scam. Why were you so easily fooled? What are you trying to warm us about?

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General shopping
DrDreReturns · 30/07/2020 21:35

I've had several of these calls and it's pretty obvious it's a scam. Amazon will never phone you, it'll be via email if they need to contact you.

ChristmasinJune · 30/07/2020 21:36

Wow, why are people being so unkind to the op? That's just bizarre!

Thanks for the warning op, there are so many of these things about and people do sound plausible, so it's always good to be warned. Smile

AriettyHomily · 30/07/2020 21:36

Why did you cancel your subscription and how were you in red alert and thought she sounded plausible?

LIZS · 30/07/2020 21:37

We get automated calls at least twice a week. Tell us Amazon Prime is about to renew at 79.99 unless we press to cancel. Always a scam.

Ajahd · 30/07/2020 21:39

My house phone (which we don't use and don't give out the number for) has been ringing constantly the past few days, always a pre recorded message about how our Amazon prime will renew for £69.99 or something like that. We don't have prime, so just been ignoring them. They are definitely persistent though!

WhentheDealGoesDown · 30/07/2020 21:40

We used to get scam calls on the house phone constantly, in the end I just disconnected it, obviously not so easy to do if you haven’t got a good mobile signal, they always seem to target landlines for scams

lifesalongsong · 30/07/2020 21:42

Weird that you would actually find the app and intend to download it, I'm always amazed that any one under the age of about 90 doesn't twig in the first 5 seconds that it's a scam.

Have you also filled in a form for a tax rebate, reinput your bank details for the TV licence and let a nice man from microsoft take control of your computer?

grey12 · 30/07/2020 21:49

For people who suffer with politeness my trick is to say I have to talk to someone else: my dad/husband/boss.... It works!

netflixismysidehustle · 30/07/2020 21:49

It's scam 101. There's a Track and Trace one which tries to get money for a CV test kit

A genuine caller would never ask for any passwords, PINs, bank details, card details or anything to be downloaded

If in doubt end the call and contact the company yourself.

netflixismysidehustle · 30/07/2020 21:50

Ps Amazon live chat is good if you have an Amazon question. This is accessed through their website.

Wannabefarmer · 30/07/2020 21:52

They almost got my Dad with this one. Tried to transfer over £900 from his account to an account in India. Thankfully he caught on at the last moment and called his bank to freeze his account.

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 30/07/2020 21:55

People of all ages and professions get caught by these things. You don't have to be an idiot, you just have to be distracted or preoccupied and not 100% in "someone is trying to scam me" mode. I used to be involved in fraud investigation and you would be amazed how many sensible intelligent people with no capacity issues fell for advance fee frauds, possibly the most obvious scam there has ever been. Well done OP for spotting it in time.

Staplemaple · 30/07/2020 21:55

It's worth reporting OP.

My favourite was one from a popular broadband provider, the scammer was using all of these tech buzzwords to sound really clever, and as I was bored I followed his instructions out of curiosity. He basically guided me to look at something which every computer will say, but if you don't know that then it sounds like they know their onions and being genuine; it's easy to see why people get sucked in. As it was when I said i would phone back the number I have, he started swearing and getting irate, which was a more obvious indicator. As a rule if it's not an overly obvious scam, I still ask for a name or reference and say I will call using the number I have for the company- genuine ones won't mind, and the others tend to hang up or get aggressive. As a rule though, it's very very rare for anything involving a company and money to phone, the vast vast majority is through email or written correspondence, but unfortunately the phone ones do get a lot of people.

Boohoohoohooho · 30/07/2020 21:55

I asssume it’s a scam whenever my home phone rings.

BluebellsGreenbells · 30/07/2020 21:56

Hardly news.

pepperycinnamon · 30/07/2020 21:59

@Dowser

House phone rang and a woman says your amazon prime subscription is due to end, true She speaks very fast and not a native English speaker and the line is very noisy so I can barely make out what she says So she says I will help you cancel it. I ask a question..and she says if you cooperate with me , I will help you cancel it

Now I didn’t like that word...so I’m on red alert .
She wants to know if i have a mobile, tablet or computer ..so I said tablet

So she’s asking me to go into an App Store and download an app

So, I find it..and then in small print, thank god I had my glasses on, I saw , screen sharer

I said, hang on, I’ll have a word with my husband.
He said, that’s not right, it’s a scam, so he took over the call..and I went on amazon website and cancelled the subscription in seconds and screen shotted it.

Anyway he got annoyed with her and put the phone down.
Talk about aggressive, she rang back 5 times
We unplugged the phone in the end

The number was 016 something and looks like it. Could be related to a Vietnamese company vienettel or something . It was a Buxton area code

We put the phone back in again..and another call came through
This time it was 01421 which isn’t assigned to any area.

Anyway, just spoken to my son in law and they had one today too and he was in a shop and heard a guy on the phone getting stroppy with amazon.

I can’t believe how plausible she was..I’d have been more on my guard, if my blooming subscription wasn’t due to end in August.

They are getting too clever these people.

Just to say 01298 is Buxton area, was it 01625 which is Macclesfield ? No prizes for guessing where I work Blush
WeAllHaveWings · 30/07/2020 22:00

I had a scam call recently the answer machine picked up. It was from "BT Open Reach", a problem with something fraudulent on my account and I had to call back urgently to prevent me being taken and arrested.

Thankfully police haven't been to take me yet 🤣

buzz91 · 30/07/2020 22:08

This is a big one atm, got a few pre-lockdown and then they started in full force once it lifted, couple of times a day. I decided to actually answer one last week so I got put through to a person and just interrupted them telling then I knew it was a scam and to remove my number - surprisingly haven’t had another since

MulticolourMophead · 30/07/2020 22:12

I've had the Amazon Prime scam call. I knew it was a scam straight away, as the landline number has not been given to anyone at all, I keep it for emergency use only, and the only people who have the number are my 2 DC and me. So I hung up and ignored it.

Plus, I do Amazon Prime on monthly DD, but I checked my account through the Amazon app anyway and nothing was wrong.

Thisismytimetoshine · 30/07/2020 22:16

She said "If you cooperate with me". How is that plausible??
Why do you think anyone would call you to "help" you end a contract?
Bloody hell...

MirandaGoshawk · 30/07/2020 22:17

We've had this about five times over the past few months. I've never had Amazon Prime.

Another one is emails about TV licences - hover over the email address and you'll see it's not from the TV licensing people. I've had a license that renews in August since I was 18 (a long time). The email said it had run out in June so I knew straight away it was a fake. I dug out the licence and the number they had quoted was different. It looked good though. Always best to be on the alert these days. But the Amazon one - think about it, why on earth would they ring you up?

Junenamechange · 30/07/2020 22:18

I love these calls. Last time I said my name was Mouse. My first name was Minnie and I spelt it out. The card number I said was 999.999 and I didn’t get any further before they hung up. Spoilsports.