The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a blog post on Thursday warning customers about an increase in robocall scammers posing as Apple and Amazon. While these types of scams have been around for a while, an increase in the number of calls has prompted the FTC to issue the warning.
The first version of the call involves the robocaller saying it’s Amazon contacting you:
In one version of the scam, you get a call and a recorded message that says it’s Amazon. The message says there’s something wrong with your account. It could be a suspicious purchase, a lost package, or an order they can’t fulfill.
In the second version, the robocall claims to be originating from Apple and says there has been suspicious activity on your iCloud account.
In another twist on the scam, you get a recorded message that says there’s been suspicious activity in your Apple iCloud account. In fact, they say your account may have been breached.
In both scenarios, the scammers say you can conveniently press 1 to speak with someone. Or they provide a phone number for you to call. Don’t do either. Ignore it. It’s a scam. There is nothing wrong with your Amazon or Apple account. It’s just the bad actors of the world trying to steal your personal information, like your account password or your credit card number.
The FTC says if you get an unexpected call or message about a problem with any of your accounts, hang up.
- Do not press 1 to speak with customer support
- Do not call a phone number they gave you
- Do not give out your personal information
If you think there may actually be a problem with one of your accounts, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real. If you do get a call you think is a scam, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Clips of the robocalls are available in the FTC blog post, so you can get an idea of what to beware of. It is an excellent resource, and I strongly recommend that you share either this article or the FTC blog post with friends and family that might be targeted by these scummy scammers.
(Via 9to5Mac)
