The rise of Amazon scam calls - Scammers as fake tech support

Amazon Scam 

Welcome back to another inside story fo Amazon scams, how they take place, and inside of an Amazon tech support. If you are new to this blog, I am an individual exposing the different types of scams happening across the world and mostly with are operated in India. I wrote about Microsoft scam and how these scammers make big dollars using the brand name. Today we will talk about Amazon Scam and how it all happens. 

How Amazon Scam Happens?

• When Someone Search for Amazon Support number 
• The victims click on the first Link shown at Google search page 
• Or, When a customer receives a mail from fake amazon support email id - Claiming their order has been placed. 
• The scammers get the money through gift cards 

Let's discuss this in detail. 

Like Microsoft Scam ruled the world for many years, Amazon Scam is on the rise these days. Amazon being the biggest organization in the world is an easy target for many scammers out there. Impersonating Amazon to scam people is a new way of stealing money. And again this is done in a very organized way. 

In India there must be thousands of small to big tech support centers running Amazon Scams. It could go from 3 seater company to 100 seater company all with only 1 motive, to steal your money. 

I went undercover to a few of these centers to work as an employee and this is what I found and experienced there. Most of the companies have a system in place like 1 or 2 owners and 4-5 agents for answering the calls, apart from that there will be 1 office boy for pantry service and few computers. 

It is not as complicate or organized as a company running a Microsoft scam but with very small setup these companies tend to make a good amount of money that can be anywhere from $3000 to $10000 per day. 

Amazon Calls 

These calls are generated through PPC campaigns, Email boosting, or via Black hat SEO. Each call can cost between Rs.350 ($4) to Rs.550 ($7.3). 

When somebody searches for "amazon support number" or "amazon prime refund" the first link they see on the google search page. That is the website their scammers own with a very good blackhat SEO running on these which rank these websites higher in a small amount of time. 

Or these scammer bulk email to hundred or thousand citizens with a message mentioning their order has been placed, and a person who hasn't made that order calls on the number provided to get in touch and that's how they get stuck in the trap. 

I even saw a person calling in to check the status of his job application and even that person got scammed with $200. And what I learned that these scammer doesn't let anybody go like this. If you calling them, they will try to steal your money in any possible way, until you don't hang up. Usually they rebuttals they give are total nonsense, still somehow Americans fall for it. 

The Call flow 

Once, you call these scammers you put your first step in their. and the call flow is like this. 

1. Call opening 

Thank you for calling Amazon, My name is XYZ, How can I help you today. This call will be recorded for quality and training purposes. 

Listening to this opening speech with a background office environment and thinking of a fact that you called them, you will be sure you called at the right place. 

2. Most asked questions by the victim to the scammer.

• I have canceled my amazing subscription, still I am getting charged for it. 
• I can't get into my account. 
• Checking the delay on their orders. 
• The website shows the order received, but I haven't received any. 
• I want to close my Amazon account 
• Checking on my Job-status 
• Want to report a delivery boy 

The first point in the above list is the most asked question and these are called amazon prime calls, which are a bit expensive than the normal amazon calls. 

3. Rebuttals / Answers by the scammers for these questions. 

The scammer very kindly listens to the issue and make the customer at ease. They ask a few probing questions like how long it's happening. Are you sure you are the only one using this account? Why do you want to cancel the subscription? 

After spending a few minutes with the customer they scammer starts helping out the customer. Like for example:-

I have canceled my amazing subscription, still I am getting charged for it.

The scammer said, "I can see that your amazon account has been frozen due to suspicious activities, it could be someone trying to hacking into your account or if you have tried to log in and log out many times a day, it could have any other reason too as Amazon has 200 violation points. 

The scammer than now tells you that this issue will be resolved in just 5 minutes but he needs you helo in doing that. He will be telling you a few steps that you need to listen carefully

He will tell you to open up amazon.com on your phone in a browser or on an application installed. If you can open it up on a computer will be more helpful, as he can take remote access if your computer and fix the issue within minutes. 

Now you will be told that a Demo transaction will be made on your account just to see that you are the account holder, but don't worry not a single penny will be charged for it. 

Now, you have to go to the search box and type Amazon Gift cards or Play station gift cards and search. Now click on the first option you get and choose $100 as the denomination. Click on ok and click on place your order. Now click on confirm your order and put in your 16 digit card number to confirm your card. 

Once you do that click on order.

Now go to your Gmail account and check if you got any mail from amazon over there. Open the mail and share the virtual card number present there. 

Great, your first step of verification has been completed. Somehow the value of a card is shown 0 over there. so the scammer tells you that see not a single penny has been charged. 

Now, let's do the same process again for the 2nd step verification. 

And if you do that you have already given $200 to the guy. He will try to do the fake 3rd step verification and it depends on the customer, either he will do it or he will feel something is fishy. If you do it, Amazon blocks the account most of the time, and the scammer is not able to teal another $100. 

As you have already given him some money he will try to find other ways to scam you without leaving any money trace. he will tell you to be on hold as he will send the codes into the verification department. 

After a few minutes he will come back to you to make another try stealing a big amount this time. And there are 2 ways to do that 

1. Sending you out to buy gift cards 

A fake text message is sent to you telling you that " $300 has been sent to your account as do complete the virtual transaction" please visit near store to do this. 

The scammer tells you that you might have got a text message from Amazon support. And you need to go to the nearest store to complete this verification. Go to the store buy a gift card worth $300 and share the code with us and that's all. There are 50-50 chances a person does that. 

If not 

2. Receiving money via Western Union. 

The scammers tell you that since there was an issue in verifying your identity and your account there is another way of doing things that is via our partner and sister company western union. 

Sound stupid ?? Yes, but very few people get into this trap, either they are really stupid or they trust the scammer or they are put up into this situation or pressure or they are dumb with technology. and the scammer has a thousand rebuttals to give to you. 

You will be told to give remote access to your phone or computer, that is done via a few available applications. Once the scammer has the remote access he takes you to the western union website and asks you to fill out the form with asking information. You do that and attach your card details there. The scammer asks you to check your router and repeat the series number behind it. While you do it, he inputs the $300 denomination and a fake Colombian account details click on confirm and close the window. While you are reading the series number, he has sent $300 dollars to a Colombian. 

Once all this is done, you are kept on call on s stand by with some reason because, it takes 45 minutes for a person to go and take out the money from a western union. One the scammer gets the confirmation he will let you go. Your number gets blocked. 

This is how usually an Amazon scam takes place. Most of the people who get scammed are above 65 years ago. I am not saying old people are stupid. But they are innocent and vulnerable and follow instructions. The scammers put the in a state of pressure playing with their mind and make things too quick that there is no time given to them to understand what exactly they are going through. 

Any person calling for any kind of amazon assistance, these scammers divert the call to the verification process and 4 sales are made out of 10 calls on an average. 

If you want me to go undercover inside a fake tech support with a camera, Comment below. If I get 100 votes on this, I will do it. 

To get in touch mail me at scamsalertinfo@gmail.com