Another Scam?

[Joseph_Pestell]

Just had an automated phone call, allegedly from Amazon Prime, saying that £39.99 has been debited from my account. And that I should press 1 if I am unhappy.

 

This is entirely plausible as I know that Amazon Prime does behave in a completely sh*tty manner. But I think it's a scam designed to get my bank details.

[Metr0Land]

Highly likely to be a scam.  I had a similar one a few weeks back except they didn't mention a currency, just a number like 39.99.

[Pete the Elaner]

Sounds like it.

IIRC, Prime costs about double that & I have never heard of paying in 2 installments.

Amazon confirm all orders by email so I am sure they would email you with payment issues too.

[RFS]

It's a long-running scam. Just Google "amazon scam" ....

[kevinlms]

17 minutes ago, Metr0Land said:

Highly likely to be a scam.  I had a similar one a few weeks back except they didn't mention a currency, just a number like 39.99.

Yes, a good way of checking for a scam is for general vagueness, such as 'Dear Customer', whereas a genuine supplier would address you by your name, Nor address you by your email address!

[polybear]

I've just started Prime and pay monthly (£7-99?).  The savings (only available to prime members) more than covered the first payment :).

I can cancel anytime

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Just had an automated phone call, allegedly from Amazon Prime, saying that £39.99 has been debited from my account. And that I should press 1 if I am unhappy.

 

Its a well known phone scam.  The only button you need to press is the one to hang up!

 

The phone scams seem to cycle round Amazon Prime/ "Your Internet Provider will terminate your account in 48 hours"/Windows Technical Support.  All want you to press button one to continue...  The Windows Tech Support one with an Indian voice reading a script seems to have stopped for now after a number of call centres were closed down by the Indian police.

 

If you actually have an Amazon account for buying stuff off them (not just Prime) you can log into it and administer any active accounts such as Prime, Music etc, including verifying if such a payment has been taken.

[PaulCheffus]

Hi

 

£39.99 is usually the student price for prime.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[roundhouse]

Mum has had these calls saying it must be for me as I have an Amazon account. I told her how does she know its for me when they are calling her and told her its a scam. Luckily Mum doenst respond to such calls and has even put the phone down on legitimate calls from her bank,  after visiting the bank and querying. I just log on and check any messages from Amazon and there is no issue with payment.

 

I have had a few calls where they know your name and address then say that they have just a couple of questions which go on and on and will ask the same questions a number of times but I don't divulge anything then hang up. The latest one of these type of calls, they asked my age as the first question which I refused to give so they (politely) ended the call.

Edited April 21, 2020 by roundhouse

[Mike Bellamy]

 

Article on BBC News website about the number of scams related to Coronavirus that have already been blocked / closed down.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52361618

 

.

[The Stationmaster]

Very definitely a scam - I receive exactly the same call from 'whoever it is' every now and then and I've never even bought anything from Amazon let alone have a Prime Account with them.

 

I had a smashing scan call 'from my bank' a frew months back and I kept the bloke going on with total nonsense from me for well over 5 minutes, got even more amusing when he started asking me about the numbers on my card and I kept telling him he already knew that because he was from the dept that issued the card (he'd said).    Most calls like this are scams and if you are worried simply call the proper contact point for whoever is allegedly talking to you - i.e. your normal contact number for your bank etc

[Ian Hargrave]

I have a simple rule of thumb for any incoming call.If I don’t recognise the number on display,I don’t answer it.I should add that all handsets,including the main house phones have this facility. I wait until the caller has hung up and after a secure interval,dial1571 .Sometimes but not often I get a scam....in my case,usually from “ the tax office “.Just a way of ensuring a call,is genuine....or not.

[Ian Hargrave]

21 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Just had an automated phone call, allegedly from Amazon Prime, saying that £39.99 has been debited from my account. And that I should press 1 if I am unhappy.

 

This is entirely plausible as I know that Amazon Prime does behave in a completely sh*tty manner. But I think it's a scam designed to get my bank details.

Do you then check both your credit and current account regularly online ?

These are strange times and we need to be extra vigilant.

 I have to confess that lately I have found the dreaded Amazon and its Prime crony more than useful in supplying stuff that I don’t need to go outside Chateau Pointend to get .These items include some things J Sainsbury cannot atm supply on collection such as tinned tomatoes and Ardmore Legacy Malt ( exceptional bargain ) and latterly bulk buys of both toothpaste and Persil during the early stages of mass panic.Three railway books are imminent from them,in addition to the two coming from The Transport Treasury.

So yes ,I confess I have shaken hands with the devil Amazon.Though you could I suppose call it thinking outside the box.It’s shaping up into a long haul.Needs must etc...

 

[phil_sutters]

15 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Do you then check both your credit and current account regularly online ?

These are strange times and we need to be extra vigilant.

 I have to confess that lately I have found the dreaded Amazon and its Prime crony more than useful in supplying stuff that I don’t need to go outside Chateau Pointend to get .These items include some things J Sainsbury cannot atm supply on collection such as tinned tomatoes and Ardmore Legacy Malt ( exceptional bargain ) and latterly bulk buys of both toothpaste and Persil during the early stages of mass panic.Three railway books are imminent from them,in addition to the two coming from The Transport Treasury.

So yes ,I confess I have shaken hands with the devil Amazon.Though you could I suppose call it thinking outside the box.It’s shaping up into a long haul.Needs must etc...

 

This is a well-established scam, which won't be coming from Amazon. We had those calls upto three times a day at one point. They seem to have stopped now.  Never press buttons at someone else's  request.  Automated messages are nearly always suspect, in my view. Just put the phone down. It is fairly unproductive to try using your phone blocking as they seem to have endless phone numbers. If you are concerned then check your bank account online.

Edited April 21, 2020 by phil_sutters
correction

[Legend]

My latest one was from 3Billing telling me my phone allowances were disabled and I should click on the link to update my account . Smelled fishy and I vaguely remembered the normal messages are from 3Alerts to tell me when there's a new bill so I checked my account on 3App and everything fine . I don't think there is any such site as 3Billing . Reported it to 3.   So watch out , and in these cases never click on the link , check your account on Amazon , three etc

[Joseph_Pestell]

The problem here, which makes it such a credible scam, is the unscrupulous way in which Amazon operates. I try to avoid using Amazon at all but the soon-to-be-ex-wife is an avid online shopper (often falling for products sent from China that do not arrive in time to be useful. Almost every time that she buys something, she fails to tick the right box and Amazon signs her up to Prime. She then has to go to all the bother of cancelling it. And it is sometimes a right bother.

So having lived this experience with Amazon Prime, the scam seems all too likely. But I concur with others who remarked that Amazon always communicate by e-mail.

[crompton 33]

I've never used Amazon prime . So i don't have an  account.  But i get phone calls saying i need to pay. This is about twice a week at the moment.

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said:

I have a simple rule of thumb for any incoming call.If I don’t recognise the number on display,I don’t answer it.I should add that all handsets,including the main house phones have this facility. I wait until the caller has hung up and after a secure interval,dial1571 .Sometimes but not often I get a scam....in my case,usually from “ the tax office “.Just a way of ensuring a call,is genuine....or not.

Not such good advice to anyone running a business. You NEED to answer a call in a professional manner, just in case it's a new customer ringing you. Even allowing it to go to voice mail, may well put them off.

 

Horses for courses.

[kevinlms]

33 minutes ago, crompton 33 said:

I've never used Amazon prime . So i don't have an  account.  But i get phone calls saying i need to pay. This is about twice a week at the moment.

I usually get emails from people I have never dealt with, expecting me to pay an invoice. Hoping to get the office staff at a time I'm not available, so they pay it without thinking.

Except I don't have staff!

[Metr0Land]

Just had my first scam call in ages.

 

The 'dear customer, your internet will be switched off in 4 hours' routine.  The only thing switched off was their call.

 

They were spoofing the number 01491 486 804 if anyone wants to add it to their blocked call list (or as I do, add the number to my caller list and mark the name of caller as SCAM).

[kevinlms]

5 minutes ago, Metr0Land said:

Just had my first scam call in ages.

 

The 'dear customer, your internet will be switched off in 4 hours' routine.  The only thing switched off was their call.

 

They were spoofing the number 01491 486 804 if anyone wants to add it to their blocked call list (or as I do, add the number to my caller list and mark the name of caller as SCAM).

I tell them to cut me off, it will save a fortune!

 

I had one tell me 'You sir, are a liar' . Told her that she started it. For some reason, she hung up on me.

[melmerby]

On 21/04/2020 at 15:21, Joseph_Pestell said:

The problem here, which makes it such a credible scam, is the unscrupulous way in which Amazon operates. I try to avoid using Amazon at all but the soon-to-be-ex-wife is an avid online shopper (often falling for products sent from China that do not arrive in time to be useful. Almost every time that she buys something, she fails to tick the right box and Amazon signs her up to Prime. She then has to go to all the bother of cancelling it. And it is sometimes a right bother.

So having lived this experience with Amazon Prime, the scam seems all too likely. But I concur with others who remarked that Amazon always communicate by e-mail.

If I want several items from Amazon and they don't have a free postage option I sign up to Prime. I then go straight into the account and cancel, it's easy.

I then have 30 days of free shipping for nothing, during which I can order my items, I have done it several times, I'm surprised that Amazon haven't cottoned on.

 

Edited May 18, 2020 by melmerby

[Nick C]

32 minutes ago, Metr0Land said:

They were spoofing the number 01491 486 804 if anyone wants to add it to their blocked call list (or as I do, add the number to my caller list and mark the name of caller as SCAM).

 

It's a bit pointless to do that though, because as you say, it's spoofed - they'll just spoof a different number next time they try to call you.

[kevinlms]

17 minutes ago, Nick C said:

 

It's a bit pointless to do that though, because as you say, it's spoofed - they'll just spoof a different number next time they try to call you.

I was at my mother's place one evening and there was a spate of callers (about 4) of people returning a missed call from her number. Yes her number had been spoofed by scammers.

I explained to the callers what had happened and all were pleasant about it.

 

Fortunately, the spammers must have moved on to another number, because it stopped, just as quick.

[Chris116]

My wife and I both have mobile phones and we have a home phone which is part of the Broadband deal I have. We had the call blocking service but still got around four spam calls a week from all the usual suspects. As we never give out our home number to friends we solved the problem by just removing the phone from the line so all they get is constant ringing that is never answered. I hope they enjoy waiting for us to answer. It saves me blowing my spare Acme thunderer down the phone at them.