I received a call from a woman who did not identify herself, from an international number from Bangalore, Kanataka. She wanted to verify my purchase of a laptop that I had made from Amazon within 20 min of my placing the order. I told her that I did purchase the laptop, she had my mailing address, then she wanted me to give her my VISA account number. I refused and told her if someone from Amazon really needed my credit card number again that I would only give that information if I called Amazon directly. I hung up on her then immediately got a call from the 206-508-4014 number; it sounded like the same woman, who again did not ID herself, said she was calling to verify the purchase from Amazon and once again wanted me to give her my VISA acct number. I hung up and called Amazon, the customer service representative couldn't tell me anything about the caller, said they do not ask for acct numbers over the phone, and told me my purchase was under review.
Just got several calls from this number. Here's how it played out:
Didn't answer four calls very early this morning, caller ID showed up as Amazon. I called the number back after making coffee.
The person who answered answered as Amazon and asked what can I do for you today? I said I was returning a call from this number. He asked me for my email address and billing address for verification so he could find out why I had been contacted. Not having finished my coffee yet, I actually answered him. And he said to hold while he verified the information.
In the meantime, I thought I'd pull up my Amazon account, just in case. He returned and said that they just wanted to verify that I had received all my orders over the holidays. Seemed reasonable, but it also struck me as odd especially after four attempted calls, and replied, "that's all?"
That prompted him to mention my last order, for aspirin, and asked if I had received it. I said that I had, and asked why I had been called four times before 8 am to very an order for children's aspirin. He said it was just a customer service call and asked if there was anything else he could do for me today. I said no and hung up.
As I already had my Amazon account open, I checked my orders, and remembered I had made a couple more purchases since then, which he didn't verify, and made me suspicious. I usually use my Amazon credit card for Amazon purchases, so I checked it online. I saw two charges for $1 each, first from Amazon, then from Amazon Prime, made this morning.
I called Synchrony Bank, which manages Amazon's credit card, to ask about the $1 charges. The customer service rep I spoke to asked the same questions the "Amazon" rep did: name, email, billing address. She then asked me to verify the last transaction on my account. I told her the last time I used the account was before the holidays and asked about the $1 charges made today.
She responded that in addition to the $1 charges, there was an additional charge of $19 that just posted as an Amazon purchase. Did I just purchase anything on Amazon? No. I asked if it might be some service fee that Amazon charges? She said I should contact Amazon, and that she would provide me with their customer service number. In the meantime, she was going to flag the charges made today as fraudulent and issue me a new card and account number.
I check my Amazon credit card transactions again and there it was an additional $19 charge on top of the two $1 charges labeled as another Amazon purchase. I check my Amazon account: no new $19 order, no pending orders, nothing showing up as unusual.
I call Amazon. Same verification process as fake Amazon: name, email, billing address. However, she was able to verify all my purchases after the aspirin order. She sounded horrified when I told her everything that had happened up to the point I had called her. I gave her the 206-508-4014 number and she told me Amazon's customer service numbers all start with 866 or 888, and that the number I had given her wasn't listed in the system as a valid CS number. She seemed more put out when I said the number came up as Amazon on caller ID.
She's making a report and told me I'd be contacted if there were any updates or if they had any further questions. Don't think it'll amount to much, but if you're looking this number up and reading this: BEWARE!
My guess is these scam artists take out small amounts and at varying/later times so as to fly under the radar, especially with folks who buy a lot from Amazon.
They must've gotten my info during the security breach around the holidays (found out about that via Google) which had my latest purchase at that time. I believe they call to make sure the info is still up to date before they try anything so as not to trigger any fraud alerts, but I think my doubtful manner on the phone made them act immediately in case I cancelled the credit card (which I did).
Call them back and give them (guidelines say to watch my language) if you want, send autofaxes their way to block their phone lines, but don't allow them to verify any info about you. They are NOT Amazon.
Woman with Indian accent asked for me by name and asked me to verify that I ordered "computer stuff" (which I did, just a few minutes earlier). I said yes and told her the items I ordered, then she said okay I just wanted to verify the order. Am I at risk if I didn't give or verify any sensitive information?
I also got a call from a woman with a middle eastern accent this morning while getting my son ready for school. She said she was calling from Amazon and verifying that I placed an order for a gift card for $150 on my Discover card ending in ####. I said no I didn't. She then said thank you for that and when I tried to ask her a question we were disconnected. I figured I had lost the connection as I was on my cell, but as soon as I got home I called Discover and reported it and fortunately they assured me that all of the fraudulent charges are NOT my responsibility and that my card is now cancelled. People suck.