FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Amazon Prime Shopping Days are coming up this week, and whether or not you use the online shopping service, you might start getting some strange calls about it.
It’s not uncommon for scammers to take advantage of online shoppers. With the pandemic boosting online sales and Amazon’s biggest deals of the year? They’re already on the prowl.
“I don’t have an Amazon account, I haven’t placed an Amazon order recently, but yet you’re getting this call asking you to respond and provide your credit card information? Huge red flag there,” said Susan Bach of the Better Business Bureau. “More people are shopping online and at Amazon than ever before. Plus this week are Amazon Prime shopping days. So a lot of people will actually be shopping at Amazon, which makes this scam even more credible.”
The Amazon Prime Shopping Days are set for October 13th and 14th.
Bach says the pandemic has created new opportunities for scammers to perpetrate these kinds of plans. The BBB has already been seeing a number of reports regarding phony callers.
“Recorded messages claiming to be from Amazon stating that there was a problem with their Amazon account…People were asked to provide things like their credit card number to verify their accounts or so that Amazon could issue a refund, and of course, that’s not how Amazon works,” Bach told WTAQ News. “It’s claiming that there is a problem with your Amazon order. And remember that these calls are sort of randomly generated, so they may not know or even care if you had recently placed an Amazon order or not.”
Those problems include anything from a problem with a package delivery or a declined credit card. Many of those calls also come from spoofed numbers of legitimate businesses, including the BBB, to make them more convincing.
Bach says there are simple ways to handle these calls and help protect others from the potential of being scammed.
“The best thing to do is just hang up because the more you connect or make yourself available to scammers, the more phone calls you’re going to get,” Bach said. “Contact Amazon Customer Service, they would really like to know about it. We would also like you to report it to the Better Business Bureau on our scam tracker portal.”
For more information, head to bbb.org/wisconsin.
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