Scammed out of $27 million! It was a fake Amazon person

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) said on Wednesday that someone posing as Amazon employees defrauded U.S. consumers of $27 million between July 2020 and June 2021 .

This scam is an "impersonation of a corporate employee" scam , in which criminals pretend to be trusted employees - Amazon representatives , to defraud consumers of their money .

According to data released by the Federal Trade Commission , reported cases of people impersonating Amazon employees to conduct illegal activities have increased fivefold in one year.

According to FTC statistics , during this period, about 96,000 people reported being targeted by Amazon-related scams , accounting for 35% of all consumer complaints about scams impersonating corporate employees , while the number of complaints about scams impersonating Apple employees was 16,000 , accounting for 6 % of the total complaints .

The Federal Trade Commission said that about 6,000 consumers suffered financial losses due to fake Amazon employee scams, with the largest amount of fraud reaching $ 1,000. Since these data are all consumer reports, the actual amount of money defrauded may be much higher .

Among them, the elderly over 60 are at greater risk of being defrauded . According to the FTC , the elderly are more than four times more likely to be defrauded of their money than young people , and the amount of money defrauded from elderly victims is almost twice that of young people ( $1,500).

How does the Amazon employee scam work ?

Fake Amazon representatives call consumers to inform them of suspicious activity or unauthorized purchases on their accounts. They ask to remotely control the consumer's mobile device to "fix" the problem and provide a refund.

The scammers will then claim that they have “overpaid” the money due to an operational error and ask the customer to return the difference . They will also act pitiful to gain sympathy and say that they will be fired if they do not recover the money .

Gift cards are also a scam channel . Fake employees will induce consumers to buy gift cards and send the security code information on the back of the card , claiming that this will prevent hackers from stealing account balances .

Criminals have also sent text messages claiming that consumers have won a sweepstakes for Amazon products and asking for credit card information to pay for shipping.

In addition , sometimes when consumers encounter problems and call Amazon for official consultation, the service number they find online is the one left by the scammers, which makes it difficult to guard against.

In fact, such scams exist both at home and abroad. The editor also reminds everyone not to easily believe text messages , emails and social media messages , and don’t click on links in the messages casually . At the same time, do not allow others to remotely access your device , and do not disclose information such as card security codes to others at will .

At the same time, the editor would like to ask, have you downloaded the National Anti-Fraud Center APP?

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