Indiana Residents Target of Recent Amazon Scam
Multiple residents in the tiny town of Highland, Indiana have been victims of scammers in the last week.
It's easy for many of us to see stories like this and judge victims of what seems like an obvious scam. The fact is, there are very vulnerable members of our community that are not as tech or even scam savvy as the rest of us.
With that being said, the Highland Police Department in Indiana went public with a couple reports of an Amazon scam. One example of a recent scam involved a person calling Highland residents posing as an Amazon representative needing access to the person's computer according to NWI.com,
The callers, who reportedly have Middle Eastern accents, have claimed a mistake was made in a sales transaction and in order to rectify it, they must get access to the residents' computers.
Many other scams were reported in the same area. The famous "wire transfer to another country" and the old gift card scam. Click here to get more on both of those.
If you have family members that maybe susceptible to scams like this, please share these helpful tips with them.
- Do not provide personal information, financial or otherwise, with strangers over the phone. For example, if someone calls claiming to be an Amazon representative attempting to fix a problem with your order. You can simply call Amazon to ask if there are any problems with your account. Always call the company's established phone number to verify.
- Never buy gift cards for a stranger on the phone. No legit company takes gift cards as payment.
- Never give a caller remote access to any of your devices.
- If it seems too good to be true. It's probably not true. For example: a caller asks you to wire $1,000 and return for the help they will double your money. No legit person or business will ask for you to wire money. This will always be a scam.
If you feel you've been contacted by a scammer contact your local authorities.