North Yorkshire Police issue warning about fraudsters claiming to be from Amazon
The force says there's been a recent surge in criminals pretending to be calling from the online shopping giant
North Yorkshire Police are warning people to be on their guard after a recent surge in fraudsters calling people claiming to be from the online shopping giant Amazon.
They're ringing people randomly and claiming that the person has signed up to the Amazon Prime service, and requesting a payment of £79.99.
If they say they haven't signed up to it, they then ask for their card details to give them a refund.
The fraudsters are taking advantage of the fact that more people have been shopping online over the last few months.
Officers say a criminals have fleeced a total of more than £20 million from unsuspecting members of the public during the coronavirus pandemic.
PCSO Stuart Nathan, who's based in Scarborough, said:
"The fraudster will say initially that a transaction's been made on your Amazon account, or that someone's signed you up for an Amazon account, and you have to either pay the £79.99 that they're requesting, or that there's been a problem processing the £79.99 on your account.
"At this point if you haven't actually signed up to it, and you feel that you are a victim of fraud, if you tell the caller that you haven't made this transaction, they'll automatically say that they can refund the money onto your card, and all you have to do is provide them with your card details.
"If you get a robotic call that's asking you to press 1, don't do it. Any calls that ask you to press a number to be connected to somebody when they've called you are more than likely to be scam calls. It's worth just hanging the phone up straight away and not engaging with them."