September 2, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Should you ever receive a call or text about a suspicious purchase on Amazon, don’t respond. It’s a scam.
Helga Thompson of the Dry Creek community learned the hard way two years ago and is warning others after falling prey to a scam in which she lost $5,000. Only recently, Thompson learned that a friend of hers was also almost taken in by the same scam.
“They hooked me with my fear,” Thompson told WJLE. “Scams feed on two things including fear and our wanting to help somebody. I learned all this the hard way. I am college educated. I have traveled half the world and would never have thought I could fall for a scam but they got me. I was so angry that I didn’t know better but I didn’t want anybody else to go through what I did. I said if I don’t put my name out there and let it be known that it’s a real person that this has happened to its just another bit of information than can be ignored. Yes, that $5,000 hurt me but it didn’t take away my life savings,” she said.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, this complicated scam starts with a call or text message about a suspicious charge on your Amazon account. But it’s not really Amazon. It’s a scammer with an elaborate story about fraud using your identity that ends with you draining your bank or retirement accounts.
In her case, Thompson said she received a call with a computer message claiming to be from Amazon, asking if she would confirm a purchase made through her account of an Ipad.
“I was just getting ready to eat breakfast about 9 am when my phone rang. It was a computer message from Amazon asking if I had made a purchase of an Ipad in New York for $1,400. If not press one. I pressed one because I had not made such a purchase. I was then transferred to someone who said they were from Amazon security. He said that he could not stop the purchase because all of my data had been hacked. In the meantime on my desk top computer I went to Amazon and saw no notice of activity. The man said that was because of the level of the hack so he had to transfer me to the Federal Fraud office. I was transferred to someone identified as Adrian Chase of the federal fraud department who said that someone had hacked into my bank accounts and was renting a car and house in my name in Texas,” said Thompson.
The scammer warned Thompson that her bank accounts and credit cards would be frozen, and that she would need to go withdraw money from the bank before this happened and put it in a Bitcoin account in order for the government to send her a debit card so she would be able to pay her bills. He also warned her to remain on the phone with him during the transaction.
“He said that they had to freeze all my accounts and credit cards. I said how would I pay my bills that were on automatic payment?. He said I would have to take the money out of my checking account at the bank and put it in Bitcoin which is a secure way to have money and the government would send me a debit card for that money so I could pay my bills. He also said not to tell anyone since my bank may be involved and that my phone may be hacked. Now all this was on my land line phone. He told me not to get off the line with him. I told him I had to drive down the road to get a cell phone signal, which I did as I went to the bank to withdraw my money. I was on the phone with him for about two hours,” said Thompson.
After realizing she had been scammed, Thompson reported the incident to local law enforcement authorities.
“I went to the police but when I got there they said there was not a thing they could do. The money was gone so who were they going to investigate and arrest? There was no recourse. They (scammers) use transferring computers in other countries and there is no way to trace these calls and as soon as you hit a money transfer its gone with no way to get it back,” said Thompson.
“While I was at the police station, I got a call on my cell phone from someone (scammer) who said he needed more information. He said you need to send us your banking information. I said I know this is a scam and I am here at the police station. He hung up. The police tried to call back that number but it was already disconnected,” said Thompson.
Two weeks ago, a friend of Thompson’s had a similar experience. “I got a frantic phone call from somebody that lives on Dry Creek. It was somebody I know who had heard of my experience. She was frantic. She was on the way to the bank to transfer all of her money because she had been hacked. She said they (scammers) told her if she told anybody she would get arrested. They said she needed to transfer this money and then they would send her a card. I knew from what she told me that this was the same scam and I warned her. Luckily, she called her financial advisor and he too said it’s a scam but it took him warning her otherwise she was getting ready to lose her life savings”
“I just want others to know that Amazon or any of those type companies will never call you and neither will the government so never do anything over the phone. If you get a suspicious call hang up and find the company’s phone number and call back to make sure,” said Thompson.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, $10 billion were lost to scams in 2023. One in four people reported losing money to scams with an average of $500 per person. Email was the number one contact method for scammers. One way to spot a scam is to understand its mechanics.
To avoid impersonator scams:
Don’t wire money, send cash, or use gift cards or cryptocurrency to pay someone who says they’re with the government. Know that the government will never contact you out of the blue, demanding money or information. Hang up. It’s a scam.
Never pay anyone who demands payment by wire transfer, gift card, or cryptocurrency. Only scammers ask you to pay these ways because it’s hard to track that money, and almost impossible to get it back. Hang up if it’s a call. If it’s an email, text, or message on social media, don’t click any links.
Don’t trust your caller ID. It might show the government agency’s real phone number or even say “Social Security Administration,” for example. But caller ID can be faked.
If you come across something you think is a scam, tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or, in Spanish, at ReporteFraude.ftc.gov.