Amazon Scam Alert

[safeinOhio]

In the last week I have gotten 3 Amazon envelopes with different computer connectors in them. In the package is a receipt as a Free Gift from my name to my name.
It's called a brushing scam. Found it on the net and they say I'll get a call from Amazon...fake call... demanding $700 now. They say hang up and give no info as they are trying to hack your bank and other accounts.

Just waiting for that call so I can answer the phone like this..."FBI Fraud Division, Agent Bush speaking. How can I help you?"

In the mean time I've got all of these connectors. uni,,,USB C to USB adapters.

[FM123]

1. Thanks for the heads up!

[wryter2000]

2. Thanks

What's the connection between the connectors and the call? Do you have to use the connectors to get the call?

My phone only rings for people in my contact list. If I were to get such a call, it would go to voice mail. I'd either delete it or report it to Amazon. I reported a scam call from "PG&E" to PG&E recently.

[safeinOhio]

10. You most likely won't get brushed.

[NurseJackie]

13. Same here... our VOIP "landline" and our mobile phones will ONLY ring for known contacts.

It's such a blessing to know that if the phone is ringing, it's someone I actually know. (It doesn't mean I want to talk to them every single time... but I do know it's not a stranger, or a wrong number, or a scammer.)

[mvd]

3. Thanks for the info

I also recently got a fake Amazon Prime e-mail. It had a misspelling (“you’re” instead of “your”) and mentioned my documents being approved to continue Prime.

[marybourg]

4. "They say"?

Last edited Fri Oct 30, 2020, 03:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Do you know anyone stupid enough to get $3 worth of unordered junk in the mail and then capitulate to a demand to pay $700 for it?

By the way, for any who may not know this, they say that if you receive unordered merchandise in the mail, you are entitled to consider it a gift, and you are not obligated to either pay for it or return it. “They” in this case is the Federal Trade Commission.

[hunter]

5. Don't use those. They might have malware installed.

...Hackers view USB devices as an “attack vector” — that is, a vulnerability that can give them access to a single computer or network. Get somebody to connect a malware-infected drive into a PC, and you’re in. Most famously, it’s believed that a USB drive delivered a computer virus into Iranian computer systems that damaged a nuclear facility in that country in 2009-10. That 45% of this study’s respondents opened an unknown file on a mysterious drive shows just how effective this kind of attack can be.

--more--

https://time.com/4286467/usb-sticks-security-hackers/

Chips containing malware can be tiny, embedded in the plastic of the connector.

[Mike 03]

6. Good information.

Thank you.

[2naSalit]

9. +++++++++++++++++!!!

[safeinOhio]

11. Thanks. In the trash.

[Binkie The Clown]

7. I got an email telling me my Prime account had been suspended, and I was blocked

from watching videos, etc. It to me to click a link to "renew my prime account" right away.
Thing is, my prime account had been renewed for a year a few months before, and when I went to the real Amazon site everything was correct and up to date. If I had clicked on that fake link and tried to "log in" or worse yet, give out my credit card info, it could have been very costly.

[dumbcat]

15. I got that same one

the other day. It didn't smell right anyway. And the instructions said, "Kindly, log into you're account ...".

"Kindly" is not a word used very much in American business communications as it is elsewhere in the world. And I doubt Amazon would allow a grammatical error ike a "you're" instead of "your".

I just trashed it.

[Grins]

8. The one I got...?

“You have won a free iPhone12!”

A supposed “gift” from Amazon. Just another scam.

[safeinOhio]

12. When you get a email from amazon or apple

Highlight the address line line at top of screen. If there are lots of numbers and letters after the name, it’s not from them.

[Midnight Writer]

14. I got two e-mails from Amazon this week telling me my account showed unusual activity and

my account would be permanently closed if I did not click on a big orange button embedded in the e-mail.

Each said not to reply to e-mail, and warned me that I only had hours to act.

I contacted Amazon, but got no reply.

Now one week past "deadline", and my account seems to be fine. (I did not push the button)

I can only assume "phishing", but from what I could see, other than the weirdness of the e-mail, it looked like an official Amazon e-mail.