Amazon Order SCAM

If You Believe You Have Been Scammed, Please Call Your Local Police Department Or Dial 911

If You Believe You Have Been Scammed, Please Call Your Local Police Department Or Dial 911

We received an email from a resident, noting it as suspicious (image attached). 
YES. It is a scam. 

Note the “from” email address – it lists as an Amazon email address and then displays as something completely different. 

It may look like an authentic Amazon email but the wording just isn’t quite right. 

A phone call to the number (18557890347) went something like this…..

The person (with a very foreign accent) answered the call and asked for an account number and email address. 
When given an entirely made-up account and email, we were put on hold while the “account” was looked into. 
Returning from hold, we were informed that the account had been hacked and was being accessed from three different locations – the account has now been red-flagged but we’ll need to get a block code. 

To get a block code we need to go to an Amazon Store – (note: Amazon Stores don’t exist) the “fraud protection team” member took our random zip code and looked up the closest Amazon Store – not surprisingly they didn’t find one. 

Because there’s no Amazon Store close, the next best thing to do would be to go to a “partner store” and get a block code there. 
An example of an Amazon Store partner store would be a Dollar Tree or a Dollar General etc. 
Of course, because Amazon Stores don’t exist, there are no partner stores. 

The “Fraid Team Member” took special care to ask how long it was going to take me to get to the local Dollar General – they were going to keep us on the phone while traveling and while at the store. 
Special instruction was given to not tell anyone why we were doing what we were doing, “because this has to do with hacking”. 

Their objective would be to further make up their story to coerce us into buying gift cards or a Green Dot Card at the store to send to them.

When confronted, “team member” claimed to be in China (strangest Chinese accent we ever heard). 

Remember:

• NEVER give out your personal information (name, date of birth, SSN etc) over the phone to an unsolicited caller
• NEVER give out account or banking information
• NEVER buy gift or money cards to regain access to services or accounts
• NEVER give access to your computer, or click suspicious email links
• ALWAYS be aware
• ALWAYS approach your local police department if you’re unsure of an email or phone call. 

Learn more about current scams at the FTC website

If You Believe You Have Been Scammed, Please Call Your Local Police Department Or Dial 911