Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Bloody but unbowed

 


You wouldn’t expect there to be any benefit from having been relentlessly attacked by fraudsters. A month ago, we stood at the gates of our small financial world, fending off incursions against what seemed like every possible angle – phone service, bank accounts, broker.

          However, we emerged a little jumpy but still victorious, armed now with a boatload of new passwords, pin numbers, and knowledge.




So today when I was sitting here minding my own business, listening to Peter Grainger’s On Eden Street (a detective series I highly recommend), my phone rang.

First anti-fraud habit: I didn’t recognize the number so I ignored it.

Second: I waited to see if it would go to voice mail. It did –

     “MacBook Pro with order ID # blah, blah, blah from your Amazon account. If you did not place this order and would like to speak to one of our representatives, please press one or please call back.”

          Yeah, right. Like I’m going to do that.

          Third:  After a flutter of panic that someone had really accessed my Amazon ordering ID, I went exactly there and my last order was just as I thought, two weeks ago.

          Fourth: I googled the phone number and sure enough, it was listed as the one attached to a MacBook scam.

          Phew.

5 comments:

  1. I always leave any call unanswered if I don't recognise the number and if it is email and the message says "your order is ready to be delivered we just need confirmation of payment" I send that straight to the spam folder because I so rarely order anything online these days that I know immediately it is a scam. The places I order from don't send such messages.

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  2. There are quite a few versions of this scam.

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  3. They are getting more sophisticated at taking our money. I also don't answer an unknown number. Glad you didn't fall for this one.

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  4. Glad you were skeptical! I would also have done what you did -- gone to Amazon to review my order history.

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  5. Get good identity theft insurance.
    I have Zander and they are awesome!
    They even monitor your homes title.
    Make sure you check out the company
    Before your use them.
    I had another companies identity
    coverage previously. They run ads on TV round the clock. I got hacked in 2018.
    They never caught it or told me about it.
    Be careful.

    ReplyDelete

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