New Amazon scam technique?

Scams Robo Calls
1

FireRTC has been down for a few days now so I’ve been left to the dozens of inbound robocalls on my home phone… the typical interest rate reduction guys, medicare trying to give me free braces for my pain, an occasional SSA call where I need to press one to speak with an agent… you know, the usual stuff we all get.

Well, today I got one from 'Amazon' saying something about an iPad and iPods being purchased on my account (over $1000), and if it was not me who made the order, then press 1 to speak with a representative. Usually, these guys try to get you in front of a computer so they can connect remotely, and usually I will feed them a VM running windows 95, which nothing seems to run on any longer ;-O

Anyway, today I got a new twist and I can only speculate as to what they are fishing for. The guy asked for the last four digits of my debit card (that is supposed to be tied to my Amazon account), the bank it is from, and the toll free number on the back of the card. Then he says that only the bank can decline the charge, and that he will transfer me to the banker to do so.

Weird, huh? He transferred me to the 800 number I gave him, and stayed on the call in the background. I know this because after I was done with them, I was still connected and then I heard that noticeable noise their systems make when the go in and out of hold/mute just before he hung up the line.

The glitch I threw him was that when he asked for the bank toll free number, I gave him the main number for Mastercard. He transferred me there, secretly listening in the background, and their automated system kept trying to get me to push buttons for language, service type, etc... Of course I didn't, so eventually they gave up and dropped the call.

My only guess as to what they are up to is, they are trying to get me to provide my debit card information to the bank to verify/deny a charge that doesn't actually exist. The bank would normally, I guess, ask for all the stuff that they require to verify I am who I say I am - and the scammer would be listening in on the whole conversation. The scam s that the charge doesn't actually have to exist, as they just want me to spell out my info so they can capture it. After the bank tells you there are no charges, the scammer can hang up as they got the info they wanted. Sound reasonable? Anyone else run across this?

2

Wow… nobody else has run across this? Weird.

3

Interesting, thanks for documenting it. I’ll see if I can find any like this

4

[[1,3,39],[1]]

5

@Cyberlytical#181439 Thanks… it certainly was a first for me. I guess only time will tell if that is a technique they start using or not. It does make it seem more legit, and I’m betting it will fool a lot more people than the ‘connect to an Amazon server’ crap they have been peddling.

6

@Otis#181468 Yeah, they develop. Well so do we, good we got an eye on this early if it develops.

7

@Cyberlytical#181476 OK, so I’ve had two more similar calls from “Amazon” regarding ~$1500 in charges against my account. The second one got terminated early as the phone connection was horrible and kept breaking up – but it was headed in the same direction. Then I got another call today from them. Again, asking for the last 4 digits of my debit card, the bank name, and the 1-800 number on the back of the card. I gave him the main Mastercard number like before, but when I got ‘transferred’ to the bank, the guy actually answered with the bank name and asking how he could help (that is - it was NOT the number I gave them). I questioned him being from the bank, he got upset and hung up. Weird.

I guess they are still tweaking the scam. It appears that instead of actually calling the toll free number for the bank, they just pretended to call them, and then one of the scammers got on and acted like he was a bank employee who was going to ask me all of the 'security' questions to prove my identity. Fortunately, I am very familiar with the bank I gave them, as I used to work there many moons ago. First red flag was the guy had a very heavy Indian accent, and the bank in question is Hispanic. Then I asked him where he was located, and he couldn't give me an address or even a city. BTW: The bank only has offices in one city, so that should have been an easy question to answer! Another Fail.

8

>

@Otis#181400 nobody else has run across this? Weird

No, not this one Otis. I have come across where they want to send an OTP code to log in to both amazon & gmail. This is new spin---but who in their right mind would store a debit card anywhere.

9

These little chimpdicks are running scared because their scams are ALL failing! They aren’t big fans of hand to hand combat - time and place open for full contact fun. So they run off like little bitches!

10

Got another one of these calls again… and this time I gave the guy the number of the FBI as my banks phone number. He dutifully forwarded our phone connection to that number, freaked out when he got the recorded FBI message, and promptly hung up. I’m averaging a least one of these a week now. In between, I’m still getting the standard Amazon scam calls wanting you to connect to their ‘secure server’, so it must be an isolated pocket of scammers forging new ground in their adventures :wink:

11

@Otis#181314 I’ve been getting the Amazon calls on my landline too. I’m not surprised at all, though.

12

@E_Pluribus_Unum#190201 I’ve always gotten the standard Amazon calls wanting to connect to your computer, but this one in particular is insidious in that it gets your bank involved in the scam. The bank is real, the person asking the questions is real, and the questions they ask are real. So the scammer just listens in on your conversation, noting down all the info you provide. Card number, name, all the security questions, etc… By the time you find out there was no charge to ‘reverse’, the scammer already has all the info they need.