Originally Posted by Ron Coen (Post 1902040)

I received an email stating a large screen TV had been purchased by me. The email appeared authentic, as from Amazon, in every way. When I called the number listed, a person answered as “Amazon”. I was on the phone for a protracted period, trying to work with the guy to get the purchase cancelled. He tried several times to get me to allow remote access to my computer and I kept refusing to do so. Eventually, however, one of the fixes he proposed must have granted him access. He said Amazon wanted to refund the price of the TV and he wanted to add $400 to my checking account just as a verification amount, then he would add the remainder if the 400 went through. He admonished me to be very careful when entering the 400 on the line provided on the screen. I did so, but very quickly another zero and decimal and two zeros were added, appearing as $4000.00. He blamed me for the “error” and when I adamantly denied it, he said my computer was old. He sounded quite concerned and was anxious about how that excess money was going to revert back to him. He displayed an authentic-looking account ledger showing the deposit. He said Amazon did not allow him access to our credit card or bank account, that we needed to purchase gift cards at Best Buy and read the numbers on the back to him. He told me to leave my laptop on and he stayed on the phone with me while we drove to Best Buy. When we reached the parking lot, he said the clerk might ask why I was buying the cards since the amount was $2000.00 (the difference between the price of the TV and the $4000 supposedly in my account). He said I would need to tell her it was for my grandchildren, otherwise I would be charged tax on it. I said (repeatedly) that I would not lie. I would pay the tax. He kept insisting that saying it was for grandchildren wasn’t really a lie. Anyway, when I kept refusing to do as he asked, he became nasty, saying I was threatening him with the loss of his job. I told him I would be happy to send a check or give permission for Amazon to charge me for the overage, but he kept on. Finally, he said I would have a surprise when I got back home because he would wipe everything off my computer. He said, four letter words toward Donald Trump and Joe "Boodin.” And hung up. When we got home, sure enough, everything was wiped from my laptop.
I called our bank to see if they could in some way trace the deposit the caller said he made. It turned out that he never had any contact with the bank. No deposit was made, even though he was able to produce on the screen an authentic-appearing bank account page that showed the $4000 deposit. It turns out also that the caller had no contact with Amazon either. The entire situation was a fraud.

Originally Posted by Viperguy (Post 1902415)

Many, if not most seniors are inherently honest and trustworthy......guess what? Times have changed. Any time I get an email that looks interesting I look at the link and the URL. You can usually tell if it's a scam because the link is generally long. It might have Amazon in there somewhere or IRS but 99% of the time they are false. Click on it and you perhaps opened the door to malware. I got one one day that apparently lock my screen up and told me to go to a site that would repair it............Big mistake. The assistant at Apple told me to simply turn the computer off and back on again and it will most likely go away......and don't go there again. People in foreign countries are making lots of $$$ on us trusting souls.

Originally Posted by Gpsma (Post 1902223)

Sorry...one big paragraph! Many wont read it.

Originally Posted by oneclickplus (Post 1902343)

The original email was not "authentic in every way". Go look at it ... find the FROM email address. You will see immediately that it not an Amazon email address.

Originally Posted by bonrich (Post 1902384)

I just had an email from Capital One saying that a purchase from Amazon for $125.83 was denied because Amazon was using a credit card number that is no longer valid. I was instructed to go to the Amazon site, link was provided, and put in the correct card number. Yep, that was a worthy delete! Never ends........

Originally Posted by Tmarkwald (Post 1902296)

I work in computer security, dealing with scams just like these. We have ways to trace back the emails.

However when anyone calls, tell them you are driving and calm back later. Check the account personally. Companies never call like this. Another indication - listen carefully for an accent, indicating an overseas call.

Some of these people are extremely persuasive. It took me years to train my parents before they passed away to last the phone down and walk away.

Many of us were brought up in a kind, gentle, environment where we did not hang up on people. I taught my parents to tell these people that they needed to talk to the husband or the wife and just lay the phone down and walk away. They never were comfortable with just hanging up on them. Me? I forward the call to the psychic hotline!