Personal experience: how scammers try to steal your data using Amazon

The holiday shopping season is in full swing, and the number of scammers is also on the rise. Most of us buy gifts through Amazon. How to Spot a Very Dangerous Amazon Shopping Scam TechRadar.

Photo: IStock

It's this holiday mix of frantic shopping, excitement, and a slight fear that someone is going to scam you that scammers naturally use to steal your sensitive details: credit cards, logins, and more.

Lance Ulanoff, editor-in-chief from the United States, deliberately played along with the scammer to show exactly how to recognize and avoid such an attack.
Lance got an alert on his phone. It was brief: “Your card has been charged0 $649 for the XGIMI Elfin Mini Projector. Nome _ order #EMPY2219 dated December 05, 2022 Did you order this? Contact us: +17204813408”.

It will happen to you

“I'm pretty sure all of you will receive a similar message before the holidays are over. This message always contains grammatical and typographical errors, including a zero for “o” and a missing word. No legitimate company will send you a text like that,” says Lance.

What scammers are counting on is the alarm that such text can cause. Perhaps you will be so worried that you do not read it carefully, but instead just call the number. But what number? Lance noticed that the number in the text and the caller's number didn't match.

To clarify, he decided to call the number to better understand the nature of this scam. His goal was to teach people by example to read such text and immediately understand that Amazon, Best Buy and other online stores do not work like that.

He decided to call the number indicated in the text, put the phone on speakerphone and waited two beeps before the “representative” picked up the phone.

On the subject: Fake fines and car scams: how scammers can use your car to get money

The “representative” asked how he could help. Lance said he got a message about an order. The "representative" quickly came to his senses and asked his name. Lance hesitated, but realized that his name wasn't exactly a trade secret, and besides, he needed to understand what was going to happen next in this fraudulent scheme.

“Oddly enough, he didn’t ask me to spell my name, but rather asked for my order number, which I dutifully provided from the text,” says Lance.

“Oh, there’s an Amazon order from Ohio and you’re in New York,” the “rep” said as Lance listened to the faint background chatter of dozens of scammers like him trying to scam other subscribers.

The scammer asked if Lance was in Ohio. He answered in the negative. The “rep” went on to clarify if Lance shared his account with anyone. Lance said no.

“There were several orders from Ohio,” the “rep” added, in a worried voice.

“This guy deserved an Oscar,” Lance later recalled the scammer’s behavior.

While the scammer was talking to Lance, Lance logged into his Amazon account on his desktop. He did not find any strange orders in his account. “It was just what I ordered for my wife's Christmas gifts,” Lance said.

Lance, trying to sound confused, asked the "rep" about if someone orders through his Amazon account, shouldn't it be displayed in his account.

There was a long pause, as if Lance had broken the whole cheater script. The “rep” replied that invisible orders were pending processing.

Then it was time to get down to business. The scammer told Lance that it was important for them to connect him to the Amazon Secure Server in order to resolve this issue.
“He must have said Amazon Secure Server half a dozen times during the conversation,” Lance says.

Lance agreed and asked how he could do it.

The scammer asked what device Lance had. Lance told him he had an iPhone

The scammer asked Lance to turn on the speakerphone and open the App Store.

“I told him, ‘Sure,’ and put the phone down and started taking notes,” Lance says.

The scammer asked Lance to download the app, spelling the app's name separately to avoid saying the whole word out loud.

The scammer wanted Lance to download AnyDesk. The “rep” explained that it was for connecting to an Amazon Secure Server, but Lance knew it was remote desktop software. It's the kind of app that allows someone on the other side of the world to connect to and control your PC or phone to dig in and get all your data.

Like the article? Support ForumDaily!?

“While we were talking, I was Googling “Amazon AnyDesk Scam” and quickly found a description of this exact scam,” says Lance. “I decided to slow things down a bit to cause trouble for my scammer.”

Next, Lance also dictated his “secret name” to the scammer separately, spelling out his “secret name” - “Go to hell!”

“At first there was no reaction. The scammer repeated it letter by letter, but since he misheard a couple of important letters, it made no sense. I dictated them again. Then the scammer said it again and there was a moment of silence,” Lance says.

The “representative” asked Lance in a plaintive voice what it all meant. “Because it’s a scam and you’re a scammer,” Lance replied.

The fraudster did not argue, he quickly agreed and hung up.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants, and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New Y.

“If you ever see a message like this, the first step is to log into your account via a secure computer or phone and check for erroneous charges. If you see them, contact the seller or the website directly. Never respond to any of these messages and never install any software, no matter what the person on the other end of the line tells you,” Lance said.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Holiday tips: to whom and how much to give, so as not to be considered a miser

Bomb, Sputnik and Rocket: North Korea is forcing citizens to change their names to more 'socialist' ones

How to get the perfect credit rating

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.