Posted on 11/27/2021 3:30:44 PM PST by ThunderSleeps
Just a heads up on a new (to me) scam.
Got a robo-call today allegedly from Amazon. Something about suspicious activity on my account. Ok, I pushed the button to talk to a real person.
A guy comes on the line and asks if I was purchasing an iPhone 11. I of course said no. (I'm an Android guy) He said fine, the purchase would be denied. (this is a key part of the scam)
I had him on speaker phone and went to my Amazon account. There was no record of an iPhone purchase. Now he claimed they had denied it. But it is just part of the setup because they are not affiliated with Amazon in the least.
He then said their "cyber team" would help correct and protect my account. He asked what kind of phone I had, iPhone or Android. He then said for the cyber team to help correct my account I needed to go to the play store and install "AnyDesk." I looked it up, it allows full remote access to your device. H**l no.
That's when I hung up on him. So be forewarned fellow freepers - there are new scams coming out all the time.
A lot of those scams involved what is referred to as “slamming”. It used to be long distance companies but now days it is electric or gas providers. They call trying to get you to lock into their service at a low price that inevitably goes up, up a lot after a few months.
Sometimes they try to get you to say “yes” in answer to a question. They will also try to get you to give them your current account number.
I’ve gotten these calls. If they ask are you xx? I will never say “yes” but will instead ask, where are you calling from and what is the purpose of this call.
https://ausenergy.com/2014/02/electric-slamming-and-how-to-prevent-it/
“Any Desk” allows them to access your accounts without your further permission. That includes your bank account.
Never ever ever install “Any Desk”.
My Verizon email account is linked to AOL because Verizon bought AOL and divested their email management to them. My iPhone needs a new app and I need to update my desktop computer from Windows 7 so that email program will run. Or something like that, I haven’t been inclined to make myself crazy with it yet. Since August I am down to getting my Verizon email through AOL’s website service.
Whomever is emailing you might be taking advantage of the kind of situation I’m in. Perform your due diligence before you do anything rash.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.