[Dimodex 84]

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.

[Gpsma]

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

[Stu from NYC]

It is a well known scam.

Use a CC for Amazon purchases and you should be safe.

[Lonnieme2]

I personally greatly appreciate this warning! I believe many will take the time to read what you wrote and if they don't, then it's their loss. My mother was scammed twice... once for $22k and then, $5k.
I am 48 years old (will be moving to the Villages with my older husband when I retire in 5 years). This same thing happened to my husband and he was almost taken by it and I have received crazy emails appearing to be legitimate. The best advice is when an email is received that appears legitimate, do NOT hit reply to that email or call the number listed in that email. Instead, do a Google search and find the 1-800 number to the company (in this case Amazon) and go through them.
When people pray on the elderly, it is especially disgusting to me and I do hope that there is a Hell and a very special place there for vile scammers!
I am so glad that even though you were highly inconvenienced and your laptop was wiped clean, you did not lose your money
There was a program on television that I watched concerning the billion dollar industry of scamming.
Be careful everyone!!

[villagetinker]

OP, do not do anything to your computer. Take it to a reputable repair store and see if they can restore your files, you might get lucky.

[John_W]

I counted four red flags before you even got to the words "Gift Cards", that's worth ten red flags. Don't ever respond to any unsolicited emails no matter who they are from. Don't even click on the email itself or hit the 'unsubscribe' button. That's most likely a virus waiting to attack your computer.

It's your Amazon account, go to the Amazon website and look at your account, are there any purchases you didn't make? Probably not, problem solved, delete the email. It happens probably 10,000 times a day. If you want more backup, go to your credit card account and see if there are any charges you didn't make. In two minutes you found all the information you needed on your own, and you now have peace of mind and some crook doesn't have your information because you did it the right way.

Just because you see a logo, or some links, or words, doesn't make it real.

[Tmarkwald]

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!

[Girlcopper]

Originally Posted by Ron Coen

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.

That scam has been around for many years. Nothing new

[tsmall22204]

You were gullible. Never get that far with suspected scammers. What were you thinking ?

[msilagy]

Sad to say but people as gullible as this person just fuels the fire for these scammers. Seriously driving to Best Buy? I hope you learned from this incident. If these scammers didn't make the money they are after they wouldn't continue doing it.

[GOLFER54]

Never become victim to these thieves who insist on straightening out your problems by accessing your computer. Just Hang up on them ! Call the company directly that you just were told you have a billing problem with and they will let you know if it’s true or not and if charges were billed to you. Make sure you write down the day, time and person you spoke with in case of further questions or problems. Also give the company the phone number and name, of the person who called you, so they can keep a record of these scam artists.

[oneclickplus]

Originally Posted by Ron Coen

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.

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.

[Singerlady]

Originally Posted by Ron Coen

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.

Sign up to view your credit card online. Check purchases/refunds daily and set it up to receive purchase notifications. Well worth it.

[woderfulwendy1]

Didn't anyone tell you, there is nothing in life that is free.

[Freehiker]

It’s hard to believe people STILL fall for this.