Amazon scam..almost got caught

[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.

My broadband provider won't let you download screen sharers.

Which is a bit annoying when you are on the phone tat home to the IT support desk and they want you to share the screen with them.

My first clue that it’s a scammer is the landline ringing. They are the only ones using it now. Not even sure why we keep it plugged in to be honest.

Why are people being nasty to the OP and trying to make her feel bad?? Jesus

Thanks for the warning OP

I get these calls frequently. I block the number but the next day, same call from a different number. I always hang up as soon as they say Amazon but the calls are a bloody nuisance. I don’t know why posters are giving he OP a hard time, surely she’s just trying to alert people to a scam.

she answered the woman's question about the type of device she had, went and got the device, switched it on, searched for the app, was about to download it, then at the last minute took a proper look at it, spotted that it was a screen sharer, and had to consult her husband as she still wasn't sure if it was legit

This! Sorry OP but this person didn't sound "plausible" at all.

This is actually interesting because when people get done by scams they always say it sounded so plausible, no one could have know. But here we actually see how the conversation went and its completely obvious. I'm not sure how we can ever stop scams if people are this stupid.

I’ve had scam mails about orders from amazon tv licences they all get deleted and I go red.

Calm down, love ~ no need to keep quoting the same post back at me. I might start thinking you've got a bit of a thing for me grin
Up yours dearie.

Sorry wrong type at end.

BBC article about scams

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53527947

We've had a number of these Amazon Prime calls too. They always asked for DH and he was always out when they rang. When I passed their message on, he just looked puzzled. We've ignored them ever since and just presumed it was a scam.

I'm waiting for the track and trace scammers to arrive any day soon.

@Justanotherlurker

Ha! I also just came on to suggest watching Kitboga.

Also Leo Takacs. Quite informative and entertaining.

www.youtube.com/channel/UCOkhTr4FqEAWRz2UecVsh4g

I repeatedly get 'Amazon Prime renewal' and 'BT - suspicious activity' calls on my landline. They all come from automated messages. Even if I used either of these services, which I don't, the giveaway is the computurised Amazon woman telling me, 'Your renewal fee will be [something like] "79 coins 99", press 1', or the BT one telling me I can speak to the "executive" by pressing 1.

Unfortunately, from what I've read and experienced with relatives, there're enough people who do fall for the scams that it's worth their while. For every person you don''t fool, there's others that fall for it. What I do do, is stay on the line until the "press 1", in the hope that I'm adding a bit more to their phone bill.

It's always easy to be smug about things you just know are scams, but if people didn't fall for them, they wouldn't exist, would they? Easy to be all, haha, TV licence scammers, the joke's on you because that's the one thing that's not in my name, or I don't even have Amazon Prime, or I just claimed a tax refund, or whatever, but who knows what plausible shit will be on the end of the line next? We should be sharing this information, not discouraging others from doing so.

I'm awfully sorry but I don't accept unsolicited calls, however can you please tell me how you got my number? Clunk, rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

However I once got a call from someone claiming to be from a large supermarket congratulating me on winning the Easter draw. Of course I have, as I have a points card, I believe you have my details and no I'm not confirming them on the phone.

Letter next day to call customer services and claim my prize. There was a luxury Easter egg, little eggs, chocolate, cake, wine, colouring books, paint an Easter egg kit, I think there was also some wine.

Up yours dearie.

Only if you buy me dinner first 😘

Being harsh is honestly what she needs to hear, especially if she is openly downloading apps
Oh yes, for sure having a go at the op is most definitely the way to make sure that she'll learn her lesson
Did you miss the bit where she said that she became suspicious and didn't download anything.

Obviously you did miss that, but hey ho, who gives a fuck, lets just join in with slating the op. Just go for it. Vent your spleen on an anonymous forum towards a woman you don't and will never know. Fill your very unpleasant boots.

When we had a landline phone, every time it rang it was a scammer. I used to just pick up the handset, tell the caller to "piss off" and put the handset down. Got rid of it eventually.

@AnneElliott

They're awful op. I've had a few. I sometimes pretend to be a police control room and tell the duty inspector I'm tracing the call for Interpol- they drop the phone quite quickly!

That's quite funny.

A colleague used to give out some witty answers, my favourite being telling a Life insurance sales lady he was leaving everything to his Cat, Yes my Cat, I'm very fond of my pussy

The thing with these scams is that although they are completely obvious most of the time, they rely on the time that it seems plausible.

So, you get a call saying they are from HSBC and it's about some strange activity on your account, Now, 85% of folk don't have an HSBC account so they hang up, 5% have heard of the scam so they hang up, 5% check their account and see no suspicious activity and hang up, 4.899999% know that this sounds dodgy and that they can call back HSBC on their own number and verify so they hang up. 0.1 percent just fall for it and 0.000001% have just called HSBC about some suspicious activity and are waiting for a call back and think this is it.

That's the odds all these folk play on. The odds that someone is just a bit naive and the odds that they hit just at the time someone was expecting them to call.

Same with the parcel ones, if you happen to be waiting for a parcel from DHL or whatever and the email comes in saying there is an issue, you might click on the attachment.

My DH is a bright guy but he comes to me every couple of weeks to check whether an email or message he's had from Paypal or Amazon or whatever is genuine or not .

I generally just try to do data protection checks with them and they get confused and hang up.

Fuck sake why are some of you so fucking rude and ignorant. Whooop Dee doo for being so clever that you can spot a scam before you even answer the phone!!

Anyway thank you @Dowser I've not heard of that scam before and reading the PPs it looks like quite a common one. I'll pass the info to my elderly relatives.

Please ignore the eejits who posted negatively.

Thanks for the warning, when I get cold calls like this I always speak in the limited amount of school french I know, seems to make them hang up for some reason!

Those of you scoffing at the op, don't be so smug. It could happen to you, to anyone. Scammers are getting more sophisticated . I had one call me the other day who sounded like a middle aged woman with a nice home counties accent and I nearly fell for it, and kicked myself after. Never be so complacent that you let down your guard or think it only happens to stupid people. The only ones deserving of your scorn are the vile scammers.

It's always easy to be smug about things you just know are scams, but if people didn't fall for them, they wouldn't exist, would they? Easy to be all, haha, TV licence scammers, the joke's on you because that's the one thing that's not in my name, or I don't even have Amazon Prime, or I just claimed a tax refund, or whatever, but who knows what plausible shit will be on the end of the line next? We should be sharing this information, not discouraging others from doing so

Also the reason these scams work is because the scammers play the numbers game and contact thousands upon thousands of people, ensuring that at least some of them are vulnerable and/or ignorant enough to be fooled.

It's classic mumsnet to then laugh, mock and call the (nearly) victim stupid rather than show sympathy.

Scammers are getting more sophisticated

This one wasn't sophisticated though, or even mildly clever. It was one step above just calling OP and saying "give me money".