Scammer alert! Just a head's up, friends.

[WinstonSmith4740]

I just ordered an electric fireplace from Amazon (yeah, I know...)

No problem with the product, but I just got an email from scammers purporting to be Amazon customer service telling me that my account had been charged twice in error, and to please call them to have it corrected. I checked the credit card used, and there was no second charge, and besides, what I had bought was not the price they claimed.

Please be careful. I have no idea how these people get hold of the information, but they do. Maybe it's just phishing, but they had the Amazon logo in the email, and it looked legit, especially since I had just ordered something from them. Another alarm bell that went off is their "customer service" number was not toll-free. And I'm sure Amazon is not the only company they're doing this to.

I do have to admit, however, that it was a really good time calling them & playing stupid for a few minutes before I tore the guy unfortunate enough to answer the phone a new one. In fact, I'm thinking of calling back in a little while and doing it again.

[Kingofalldems]

1. Yes that's been an ongoing scam.

[k8conant]

2. I get phone calls like that also.

I know now to to just hang up. Sometimes I double-check my Amazon account online.

[kimbutgar]

3. I got one of those scam emails saying my account was charged for some item

They said log in at this link. The bottom of the email had no information, no address or 800 number.

They wanted me to log into their link which was bogus. I went to my regular Amazon app and checked my account no transactions since my last transaction at the end of December.

[hippywife]

4. My question is...

why is anyone still ordering from Amazon?

[LakeArenal]

9. Same reason people go to Walmart.

It’s the best option on the communities they live in

Walmart once was 28 away but had the best place to buy anything. Or get a job.
Not great jobs. But jobs.

Amazon is a blessing to many rural communities.

[hippywife]

20. However, it's not in many cases.

We live in a rural area, a 30-45 minute drive for groceries, pharmacy, etc. Yet, we've managed not to order from Amazon for 10 years. Once I read: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor/ in 2012, we were done with them, and they've only succeeded in becoming worse since then. They treat everyone poorly: their employees, their independent sellers, and even their customers.

I can understand when there isn't any choice, and that's definitely true for some, but the greater part of their customers have plenty of choices and don't seem to care that someone else pays for their convenience.

[USALiberal]

14. Because it is easy and quick and efficient! Nt

[hippywife]

19. For which others pay the price.

We all got along for eons without having to have things delivered in a day or two. It's just not worth it, in most cases, that others suffer for our convenience.

[Gore1FL]

15. It's the easiest way to buy things, especially in a pandemic. nt

[hippywife]

21. It may be the easiest way...

and necessary for some, but not for the majority of their customers. They don't care who pays for their convenience.

[LakeArenal]

23. If we follow your precept then we won't have anyplace to buy stuff.

Clothes are made with child labor a lot of places
Car parts come from underpaid workers
Mexico.
Immigrant farm workers harvest the crops
Miners die of black lung but want those mines open

It’s absolutely great that you have the opportunity that enables you to take such the high road.

[hippywife]

24. And you're putting words in my mouth.

I didn't say any of that. I also realize everything you said is true, but it's not that we have any more opportunity than anyone else. Less, actually. We live in a rural area and on a fixed income, and still haven't bought anything from Amazon in the past 10 years. As as matter of fact, my sister sent us something from there last week and I refused the delivery.

We made the decision to stop supporting Amazon after reading this article in 2012, and haven't looked back:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor/

Amazon has only gotten worse in that time. They cheat and manipulate everyone who does business with them: their employees, their independent sellers, and even their customers.

The only thing we've been forced to change is online grocery shopping at WalMart. Pre-pandemic, we shopped at a small local chain and paid a little more for groceries. With the pandemic, we really had no choice but to shop WalMart given so many empty shelves and every day items unable to be found where we normally shopped. I knew from once working at a trucking company that their vendors and carriers will serve them first, over and above anyone else. Do I hate it, yep.

It's all been a matter of weighing needs vs. wants, as well as managing expectations and planning when we actually do need something. I try to make sure we're not in a position that we must have something in a day or two. We live in the most ass backwards red state (OK) with the highest COVID deaths last year and all counties are in the deep red, indicating extreme high transmission risks. Given my pre-existing health issues, I can't risk even a minor case of COVID, so we only run into town once a week and anything we need has to wait until we do.

It's become easier and easier to deny Amazon my business as the years have passed, I even forget they exist until someone brings them up or there's another news reports about something else they've done to fuck people over, giving me even more reasons not to change my mind.

Again, I realize for some people it's a necessary evil, they have no choice and don't blame them in the least. We can only affect what's in our individual control. For the rest of us, supporting Amazon is definitely within our control. It just takes very little effort.

[msongs]

5. does amazon get a kickback from these scammers/ nt

[TlalocW]

6. Is this the one where

They tell you that a charge of $X was made at 3 in the morning for Y Product? I always say yes when they ask me if I made that charge/bought the product. Usually there's about 5 seconds of confused silence on their part before I say, "You don't know what to do when someone says yes, do you?" And then I tear them a new one for being a scammer.

TlalocW

[WinstonSmith4740]

13. No...

But that one sounds interesting, too. This one is where they tell you your account was charged twice. I'm thinking of calling back and playing with them some more, and I like your approach!

[TlalocW]

17. It's probably immature - of both of us

But I do take scam calls because I know I can waste their time and maybe keep them from finding a real victim. Lately, however, I haven't had time to keep them on the line giving them the wrong credit card over and over again (Oh, that 0 is really a worn-down 8, try it now. Oh, the last two numbers should be switched. I'm old, and my eyes aren't the best. etc) Best record for keeping them on the phone with me is about half and hour and only ended when they finally asked my name. I told them, my last name is Keyface (spelled it for them), and my first name is Don. There were two of them on the line with me at the time, and the "manager" said, "Thank you, sir. So I'm speaking with Mister Don Keyface?" Five seconds of silence, and then they both started cursing at me.

Nowadays, I use a quick speech I've come up with to imply that their mother - who I've slept with for money - is disappointed in their career choice and the dishonor they bring on the family. I get yelled at a lot for that as well.

TlalocW

[sky_masterson]

7. They send out thousands of those fake emails hoping that some will call the number

I've watched hours of Youtube videos on Scammers.
Just note this: If they want you to download a program, don't! They just want access to your computer.
Many of these scams pretend to mistakenly refund you hundreds to thousands of dollars and try to get you to pay them back for it with Gift cards. Be careful.

[2naSalit]

8. I got an email like that recently...

And I knew it was a scam because I don't order anything from Amazon, don't have an account with them, I won't even click on a link if it goes to their domain.

[nebby70]

10. you're gonna call 'em back and do it again?....

... interesting hobby --
... I have the same one on days I'm bored...
... I'm old and enjoy yanking the chain of some of these young'uns....
... for voice activated ones -- I've been known to put the phone near my radio that's all NPR talk....

[WinstonSmith4740]

12. Probably will call them back.

I'm retired, stuck at home for a couple of days due to recent oral surgery, and it is a great way to break up the boredom. I was thinking of giving them a fake credit card number, but don't want to accidentally give them what could be a legit number someone else might have. The first guy I talked to was really flustered when I called him out on being an f-ing scammer. He actually hung up on me.

[marie999]

11. I get phone calls that they are checking up on an order I placed.

I have never bought anything from Amazon. If I am bored, I like to have fun with them and others.

[Mossfern]

16. Just got a phone call from "Amazon" about a half hour ago

It was an automated voice saying that I was just charged for a Mac. I just hung up. I get these calls occasionally.
Sometimes my son will order something on my Amazon account, but he usually calls me first.

[sarcasmo]

18. I assume every email is a scam. Similar email scam with Paypal.

[FakeNoose]

22. The scam email was just lucky timing (unlucky for you)

Spammers know that no matter when they send the emails out, they're gonna get lucky once in a while ... because somebody is always shopping on Amazon. Good on you for not getting fooled.

I get the same scam emails, but I hover my mouse over the name of the sender, and it tells me who really sent the email. You'd be surprised how many times a seemingly real, no-nonsense email is sent by scammers trying to get us to open and respond. Of course once you click on their link (or whatever they send) you're dead ... you got their malware already on your computer.

THIS is the reason why I never open emails on my phone, because I can't hover and discover who really sent the message. It's only on my desktop computer that I can do it, and it has saved me from making a mistake countless times.

[WinstonSmith4740]

26. Thanks so much for the info!

...but I hover my mouse over the name of the sender, and it tells me who really sent the email.

I didn't know that! I'll be sure to use it in the future.

[Duppers]

25. Got an email 8mos ago

After an Amazon purchase, supposedly from Amazon...with an attachment.
I was gd dumb enough to open the attachment!!


Took me MANY days to clean up the mess it made on my phone!! Even then, I had to get my son's and T-Mobile's help!
And, yes, my son reprimanded his old mom for opening an unknown attachment. Never ever do it.

Yes!! ... BEWARE! Some insiders at Amazon are crooks!!!
Don't open attachments from "them." Call Amazon instead if in doubt.

Thanks for the thread: folks need to be warned.