FraudSMART warns consumers to be alert to new Amazon Prime phone scam
30th January 2020 – FraudSMART, the fraud awareness initiative led by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), is today warning consumers to be alert to a new phone scam in which fraudsters are making calls pretending to be from Amazon or Amazon Prime.
Outlining details of the scam, Olivia Buckley who leads the BPFI FraudSMART programme said “We are aware that consumers are receiving calls informing them that they have been charged for an Amazon Prime subscription or that they are eligible for a refund for an unauthorised transaction on their Amazon account. The fraudster then advises the victim that their subscription was purchased fraudulently and that remote access to their computer is required to provide a refund to prevent this from reoccurring. They are asked to download software and give remote access to their accounts, enabling the fraudster to gain access to the customer’s online banking and making a payment to the fraudster’s account.
Olivia Buckley has advised consumers to: “Always be very careful of unsolicited calls seeking personal details. Hang up and independently contact the company on a phone number or email address you know is genuine. Never use a number the caller has given to you as this could be fake and remember it takes two people to terminate a landline phone call, make sure you hear a dial tone before you call anyone.
Ms Buckley continued: “Never give your financial or personal information in order to release money, refund fees, or access to your computer and never install any software or visit a website as a result of a cold call. Unsolicited requests for remote access to your computer should always raise a red flag.”
FraudSMART is a fraud awareness initiative developed by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) in conjunction with AIB, Bank of Ireland, KBC Bank Ireland, PermanentTSB, Ulster Bank and An Post. The aims to raise consumer and business awareness of the latest financial fraud activity and trends and provide simple and impartial advice on how best they can protect themselves and their resources.