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According to police, area residents have reported receiving an automated phone call from a fraudster claiming to be from Amazon in need of discussing a recent order.
Officials said that the largest are instructed to press “1” to cancel the order or “2” to speak with a representative. No matter what button is pressed, the message states that the order is canceled and in order to fix it, the target must call an 800 number to speak with someone directly.
Police said that when one calls that number, scammers direct their targets to a website that looks exactly like the Amazon website. They have them re-enter all personal information, bank account info, and then they tell you your order is reinstated and everything is fixed.
“If you think you've been a victim of this scam contact your financial institutions immediately. If you have any questions about communications from Amazon, contact them directly at the methods listed on https://www.amazon.com"
In some instances, the scammers tell the victim the Amazon Prime subscription was purchased fraudulently and that they need remote access to the victim’s computer in order to fix a security flaw that will prevent it from happening again.
The victim is then instructed to download an application called TeamViewer and asked to log into their online banking account. The software download grants the scammer remote access to the victim’s computer and allows them to access personal information and bank details.
In total, more than 200 reports of fraud have been reported, with hundreds more reporting that they’ve received the fraudulent calls.
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