Nuisance Phone Calls

[Dod101]

I am sure this was discussed recently but I notice in the last two or three days that I have been getting US sounding female voices assuring me that they are not trying to sell me anything. I put the phone down before they tell me what they are actually trying to do.

The world must be waking up again.

Dod

[Stompa]

Mine seemed to restart about 10 days ago. Almost all have been calls that purport to come from various numbers of the form 07980xxxxxx, and consist of about 10 seconds of silence followed by a female voice saying 'goodbye'. I assume they're just standard 'silent calls':

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecom ... lent-calls

but at least they've made the effort to say 'goodbye' when they've finished wasting your time!

[madhatter]

After a long gap I have been getting the "Your Amazon Prime account has been renewed" scam automated calls.

I knew it was too good to last.

[madhatter]

And today’s Amazon Prime scam:

“Your Amazon Prime account will be terminated...”

Don’t know what the rest of recorded message would have been, but no doubt there will be plenty more opportunities to listen to it.

Presumably had I been the holder of such an account I would have been urged to press “one” or whatever to remonstrate with the operator, and provide security details so they know it was me.

[elkay]

And today’s Amazon Prime scam:

“Your Amazon Prime account will be terminated...”

Don’t know what the rest of recorded message would have been, but no doubt there will be plenty more opportunities to listen to it.

Presumably had I been the holder of such an account I would have been urged to press “one” or whatever to remonstrate with the operator, and provide security details so they know it was me.

If you want to hear how the call might go...
https://danskebank.co.uk/personal/help/ ... -scam-call

[AleisterCrowley]

"Your Amazon Prime account has been renewed"

Hmm, I've had two recently
I DO have an Amazon Prime account, so getting a call telling me it had been renewed didn't really register, other than a vague unease around why and when I'd given them my landline number (which is rarely used)
So, what's the scam?

[DiviLuvva]

I keep a very shrill (sort of mountain rescue) whistle by the phone. When prompted I press '1' and wait for the human scammer and then.......

I don't get many of these calls nowadays, sadly.

[Alaric]

"Your Amazon Prime account has been renewed"

So, what's the scam?

Presumably if the account is already active, it's been paid for and the message is suggesting that a second payment has been taken. I think you are being invited to reply to the message and give them bank account or credit card details on their excuse that they need them to process a refund.

It feels less rude to terminate an automated message than an individual.

[Redmires]

"Your Amazon Prime account has been renewed"

So, what's the scam?

Listen to this from Radio 4 yesterday - 15 minutes in.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j1jh

The presenter records the call, knowing it's a scam, and goes along with them for a while. The 'amazon support person' asks them to open a browser page and type in 'teamviewer', install it and then ask for the ID and password. The presenter gives them a false ID/PW and finishes the call. Soon, the 'amazon support person's manager' calls back and tries to go through the process again. They are very persistent *******'s.

[Mike4]

"Your Amazon Prime account has been renewed"

So, what's the scam?

Listen to this from Radio 4 yesterday - 15 minutes in.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j1jh

The presenter records the call, knowing it's a scam, and goes along with them for a while. The 'amazon support person' asks them to open a browser page and type in 'teamviewer', install it and then ask for the ID and password. The presenter gives them a false ID/PW and finishes the call. Soon, the 'amazon support person's manager' calls back and tries to go through the process again. They are very persistent *******'s.

Listening to the link in post 308763, the fake Amazon call centre agent tries to fool the caller into installing a remote access app on his phone, and granting remote access to the fake Amazon agent. He tells the caller the remote access app is necessary in order to cancel Amazon Prime (as the caller is calling to request).

Had this succeeded, I can imagine the fake Amazon bod using the remote access to log into the caller's real Amazon account, eBay account or whatever, changing the delivery address then buying an absolute tonne of expensive stuff on the caller's real Amazon/eBay/whatever accounts, or something along those lines. But whatever, granting remote access to your phone to some scammers seems a Really Bad Idea to me.

[Alaric]

Had this succeeded, I can imagine the fake Amazon bod using the remote access to log into the caller's real Amazon account, eBay account or whatever, changing the delivery address then buying an absolute tonne of expensive stuff on the caller's real Amazon/eBay/whatever accounts, or something along those lines. But whatever, granting remote access to your phone to some scammers seems a Really Bad Idea to me.

Being able to redirect Amazon purchases doesn't seem directly of value to an Indian Call Centre, but I expect they could sell it on. But an interesting observation that they are trying to harvest details of real Amazon accounts, rather than Bank and credit card accounts or installing malware.

[swill453]

Being able to redirect Amazon purchases doesn't seem directly of value to an Indian Call Centre, but I expect they could sell it on. But an interesting observation that they are trying to harvest details of real Amazon accounts, rather than Bank and credit card accounts or installing malware.

As they said on the radio show, if the scammer has access with Teamviewer they can install another hidden programme on the computer, which could give them unobserved access at any later time, even after Teamviewer was removed.

The sky's the limit then, they could do pretty much anything with whatever you use your computer for - banking, credit cards, shopping, Paypal etc.

Scott.

[AleisterCrowley]

Hmm, well if it's actually got to the point where I was asked to install something like that I'd wake up (I hope)
All I got was automated ;
"Your Amazon Prime account has been renewed"
Me: "hmm . so what, I know this."
Phone down

[PinkDalek]

All I got was automated ;
"Your Amazon Prime account has been renewed"
Me: "hmm . so what, I know this."
Phone down

Why even tell an automated system anything or were those your thoughts only?

[AleisterCrowley]

My thoughts only, I'm not the chatty type

[PinkDalek]

Unless on here!

[XFool]

Even I had one out of the blue today! She had an Indian accent and said she was from British Gas...

She was! She wanted the meter reading.

[XFool]

All I got was automated ;
"Your Amazon Prime account has been renewed"
Me: "hmm . so what, I know this."
Phone down

Why even tell an automated system anything or were those your thoughts only?

"automated"? Has Sergei started making these calls now? You can't trust anybody these days.

[Lanark]

I almost never get these calls, but when I do I try to string them along for as long as possible. Asking them random questions which bear no relationship to anything seems to work quite well: "how long is it?", "I dont know if tuesday is the best day?", "could you explain that again?"

[AleisterCrowley]

Unless on here!

Indeed - you have met me enough times to know that in 'real life' I'm a shy trembling wallflower
Are you up for a post-lockdown TLF Social in jolly old London Town?
I may order some TLF-branded face masks, although the Clachan drains should kill any lingering viruses
Get behind the line'!!! Schnell!