SCAM ALERT

Last week I almost became the victim of a scam. Fortunately, I caught the scam before I got taken. However, I can’t believe I almost fell for it.

It started when I needed to return something to Amazon Prime. I had already gone through the process of getting them to send me a label to return the items but when I went to print the label, I ran into difficulty and gave up. A couple of days ago I got a reminder that I needed to return the item and I knew I needed to contact customer service to get help.

FIRST MISTAKE:

Rather than search the Amazon site for Customer Service, I did what I had often done before: I did a search on Google to find a phone number that would allow me to talk to an actual person. This is something I have done countless times before with success. I input a search for “Amazon Prime Customer Service” and an 888-number popped up, so I called it. A man with an Eastern accent answered the phone and seemed very helpful.

SECOND MISTAKE:

The man said: First I need to verify you are who you say you are, so I need you to go to the Apple Apps Store and download a program that will allow me to verify you. The program he told me to download was Teamviewer QuickSupport. (Remember that site. If anyone ever tells you to download it, they are probably a scammer.) I made the second mistake and downloaded the app.

THIRD MISTAKE (AVOIDED)

By then I noticed that the guy on the phone was in a room, a very crowded room full of guys with accents just like his. I thought, something is up. Then he said the magic words that made it clear that this guy and all of the other guys in the room around him were scammers. He said: “Now log onto your personal bank account.” At that I said: “Now I know you are a scammer. I’m hanging up now.” And I hung up. I immediately deleted the Teamviewer QuickSupport app, which as it turns out is an app that shares all of your phone information with the person on the other end of the line. Fortunately, sensitive information on my phone is password protected and encrypted.

I did an internet search with the parameters of the scam and found that, sure enough, a lot of people had fallen for that exact same scam. It turns out that scammers will put up a fake customer support number for a short amount of time and then take it back down because if they leave it up, they will get caught. So, they just bait a hook and throw it out for a short time and I just managed to take the bait.

I told my daughter about the scam and she said that I have two choices: 1. File a complaint with Interpol and 2. Turn the phone number over to a group of “Reddit” internet users who live to mess with scammers. Of course, my first thought was “Challenge Accepted!”

I Googled Interpol but found on their web site that I would need to contact local law enforcement first. Since I would rather my local law enforcement spend their time on local crime rather than a bunch of scammers on the other side of the world, I quickly ruled out that option. But, the prospect of turning the phone number over to a group of Reddit users, with the prospect of having them make scammers’ lives miserable seemed much more fun. I did some research and found some interesting posts on the internet. One guy in England sets up a dedicated computer just for the purpose of rooting out scammers. He has to alter his voice because scammers have come to recognize it. When he finds a scam customer service number, he will call it. He is very adept turning the tables on the scammer and getting them to reveal personal information. He tells them he needs to call later. When he calls back the scammer is all to eager to finish the scam but when he logs onto the Reddit counter scammers computer the scammer finds not his target’s personal information but his own. Personal family pictures, emails…. everything. The scammer is shaken to the core and will often answer anything the counter scammer asks.

My daughter told me of counter scammers that have been able to get into the bank accounts of scammers and refund money to people who have been scammed. It is truly a brave new world, and I am skeptically optimistic that there are modern-day Robin Hoods on the internet who are making scammers think twice.