A POLICE force has warned against fraudulent phonecalls impersonating Amazon and conning victims into handing over their bank details.
North Yorkshire Police, which is dealing with several cases of fraudulent calls purporting to be Amazon, warned that victims were being swayed into handing over sensitive financial information.
The force said victims had reported a mix of "robovoice" and human-led phone calls, which ask the recipient to press 1 on their keypad to "renew their account" and in turn, "receive a refund."
Other reports include fraudsters calling residents on their landlines and claiming there has been fraudulent activity on their Amazon account, requesting that they log in using a different website or app.
PCSO Nathan Stuart, a fraud ambassador for the force, said: “If you receive a phonecall claiming to be from Amazon, offering you a refund or asking you to log on to your account, do not proceed with this. Hang up the call.
“You are not obliged to speak to them. Do not share any information with the caller.”
In the past week, Amazon has issued its own warnings to potential victims across its social media channels.
It said: "Unexpected Call, E-mail or Text Message from Amazon? If you receive a suspicious phone call, email or text message claiming to be from Amazon, asking for payment, personal information or offering a refund you do not expect, please do not share any personal information, and disconnect any phone call immediately.
“You can report spam calls via Action Fraud. Please also note that Amazon will never ask for your personal information, or ask you to make a payment outside of our website.
"If you received an e-mail regarding an order or Prime membership, or anything that you don’t recognise, please forward the e-mail to stop-spoofing@amazon.com and then delete it. Do not click on any links in such emails.”
PCSO Stuart added that call-blocking devices such as Trucall fitted to landlines and mobile phones would reduce the number of false calls received.
- Further fraud awareness advice can be found at https://www.facebook.com/North-Yorkshire-Police-Fraud-Awareness-501398623600896.
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