Danger ⚠️ This simple mistake can cost you a lot of time and money!

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Danger ⚠️ This simple mistake can cost you a lot of time and money!

Post by Admin » Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:41 am

This is a public service announcement to keep you from getting your phone or computer hacked by something many of us do all the time online without a second thought.

Someone I know had his phone hacked. They cleaned out his checking and savings account and even maxed out his credit card. Because he bought a Roku remote from Amazon.

Here is how the scammers did it. He purchased a new Roku remote from Amazon Prime. When he received the credit card statement, he noticed Amazon had charged him four times for the remote. A simple billing error.

So he looked up the phone number for Amazon Prime Billing in Google and saw a phone number listed for Amazon Support and called it from a website which was not Amazon.

Once on their fake website, he clicked the phone icon, which not only called the phone number to their fake support center.

It also installed software on his phone that let the scammers see any site he visited. From there they recorded passwords, account numbers, credit card numbers right from his phone. In real time, they could see everything he was doing online.

This same scam can also easily happen on a computer as well.

They even asked for his social security number, which fortunately, he did not give out over the phone.

Once the hackers got this information, they completely cleaned out his savings and checking accounts. They even maxed out his credit card buying PlayStations and Smartphones and other electronic items that are easy to sell on eBay and Craigslist.

The bank fraud prevention team called in the FBI and he met with an FBI agent at the bank for several hours. The FBI agent told him that with COVID and all the shopping online that this type of scam has skyrocketed.


How to Protect Yourself From This Scam

Whenever you call a support phone number for any company, never trust a number you see listed in any search engine results.

This is a very common scam and these scammers target all kinds of support phone numbers for various companies, banks and even streaming services like Roku, Netflix and HBO.

Look for a phone number only once you are on the official website of the company you need help from. If you have a paper billing statement, the number may be listed there. The back of your credit card should also have a phone number listed if you need help.

Always check the web address listed at the top of your browser window. It should show a lock 🔒 icon and the address should always begin with https:// and end with the name of the company like amazon.com or sometimes it could have a sub domain in front which could look like this:

Code: Select all

https://support.amazon.com
Be extra careful because here is another trick these scammers often like to use.

They will register a website with one letter different from a website they are targeting.

For example: a fake Amazon website could look like this.

Code: Select all

https://anazon.com
Notice the n instead of an m?


Here is an example of a fake Amazon telephone support sites that come up in a simple Google search.

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Take a few extra seconds and pay close attention when searching for a support phone number online. This can save you from countless hours of aggravation and stress if you accidentally click on the wrong link.

Here is another example of a person who had their Amazon account compromised. https://medium.com/@espringe/amazon-s-customer-service-backdoor-be375b3428c4



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