Hello tellows friends,

Think you already know everything about the latest phone scams? You’d be wrong. Scammers are constantly devising new ways to trick the public and in this blog we are going to introduce you to one of their newest tricks: The Amazon Prime Scam.

The Amazon Prime Scam

This scam is similar to the press 1 scam in many ways but the cover story is different. The call begins with a recorded message which explains that you have been charged or will be charged for an Amazon Prime subscription. To cancel or query this payment you must then press 1.

Following this instruction will put you straight through to a scammer, who will ask for personal details and financial information. Reports indicate that the elderly are the most vulnerable to this type of fraud. A Guardian article reports that losses of up to £25000 have been made as a result of this scam.

Comments from our users

Dr. D wrote this about the number 07719318303:

Autobot, claiming to be from Amazon Prime and that 39.99 will be deducted from my account, and if I wanted to stop this then press 1. Then someone not from Amazon will clean you out of you login data and you’ll be scammed. Block this, don’t even answer.

Ian shared this information about his experience with the number 01255875455:

12:45, 17/9/19. Automated message which said they were from “Amazon” and that my account with them will continue, including taking money from my bank account, unless I press 1 to speak to them. I have never had any contact with Amazon, and no money has ever left my account in favour of them.

vexedworker commented on the number 01299851863:

robot voice pretending to be from amazon, threatening to close my account if I didnt give them my credit card details to pay some overdue fees

Amazon Website

The Amazon website contains information and warnings about such calls alongside instructions of how to report them directly to the company.

While some departments at Amazon will make outbound calls to customers, Amazon will never ask customers to disclose or verify their Amazon.com password, credit card, or banking account number.

If you receive a phone call asking you to disclose the above information, please visit www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/report-phishing.html to report the phone call to Amazon.

Advice from tellows

• Do not follow the caller’s instructions if you don’t trust them
• Report any suspicious caller directly to Amazon and Action Fraud
• Rate and comment on the number on the tellows website so that others can be warned about dubious numbers!

Your tellows team