One savvy consumer who was a target explains how it works
of ConsumerAffairs
Scammers love to impersonate big companies or organizations so Ryan, one of our readers from New York, was skeptical when an automated call said it was coming from Amazon. He was especially skeptical because his phone said potential spam when the call came in.
When he answered the call he was told that someone had tried to change his Amazon password. If he had not tried to change his password, he was told to press 1.
I pushed 1, Ryan told ConsumerAffairs. It then said something like, to stop this change please enter the 6-digit code we sent to your phone.'
At the same time, Ryan got a text from Amazon the real Amazon that gave him a six-digit code and told him not to share it with anyone.
I believe the scammers were on Amazon and did a password reset, Ryan said. When you do that, you enter your phone number and then you get this screen:
Once you do that, you get a text from Amazon with a One Time Password (OTP). The OTP is what the scammers were after.
If I had entered the OTP from my phone while on the call with them, they would have gotten the OTP and been able to enter it on the website and access my account, Ryan said.
A dangerous scam
That was the time that Ryan ended the call, getting as close to a very slick imposter scam as he wanted to get. But he sees how people could become victims.
The scam is dangerous because it scares the consumer into thinking someone is accessing their account, so they may not be thinking clearly and will want to stop it immediately,Ryan said. It's convincing that it's Amazon because they say they're from Amazon and that you'll get a code from Amazon, which you do immediately, so it seems like they sent it.
Once scammers access your Amazon account, they can go on a shopping spree, all charged to your credit card. And if you try to limit your loss to $50 because it was credit card fraud, sorry. The bank will say your information wasnt stolen, you gave it away.
While there were a few red flags in this scheme, Ryan says the most obvious is this: the OTP is sent to your cellphone to verify your identity, but if they called you on your phone, then they'd know they're speaking to you. In the heat of a scam, many victims dont stop to think about that.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2024-07-10 14:54:19
