I have been receiving phone calls every couple of days from a recorded message saying they are from Amazon. This has

Hi,

I’m Zoey, and I am an experienced attorney. I know your question is important to you and I will be giving it the time and attention it deserves.

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How long ago did this happen to you?

Thanks.  Give me a few minutes to type you a reply.

The call you got was not from Amazon. They do not make those kinds of calls.  You fell for what's known as a phishing scam.

The type of phone call you received is the way that scammers get your personal identifying information and what they need to hack into your account. Scammers hide behind the names of companies with whom most people have accounts, such as Amazon, Apple, Visa or PayPal so that you will speak to them and trust them with information.

When they reach you, they tell you of an unauthorized charge, or warn you about suspected unauthorized activity on your account. The call is designed to panic you so that you call them at a fake number and give them whatever information they ask you for. If it goes according to plan, the scammer fools you into jumping through hoops that divest you of information and your money.

This scam can even sometimes morph into a computer tech scam, where they offer to look into your computer to discover the source of the data breach that created the unauthorized charge or problem. You give them remote access because you think they are Amazon and trust them. Then they can hack your computer and steal from your accounts.

Amazon does not provide computer support.  So you need to take precautions against identity theft.  If they planted malware in your computer, they could be logging your keystrokes even as we speak.

You need to turn off your computer and get it to a local tech shop you can see and trust and have them sweep it for malware.  If they find any, they can debug it.  Then you would change all your pin numbers and passwords.   From there, depending on what you have given them you may need to cancel some accounts and open new ones or report them to your consumer protection agencies.

You should also report this to www.cyber.gov.au and to Scamwatch.

Do you need me to clarify anything or to give you more information?

It varies.  I've had customers who have contacted me after their accounts were cleaned out, but in most instances, nothing has happened yet.  All the same, if you can freeze your accounts until you can get your computer tended to, that's would be a wise course.   It may be more than you have to do right now, but since neither you nor I know how compromised your computer actually is, it's much better to err on the side of caution.

You're very welcome!

Any other follow-up questions?

If there is anything more I can help with, you can always find me again on this chat thread or by starting a new question with "For Zoey Only."