Last year we published the latest edition of our Comprehensive Guide to Online Scams helping you to stay safe online (full pdf). This includes an Overpayment/Refund scam (page 14)
What happens — You get an e-mail about a renewal service for Norton Lifelock, but you don’t quite remember it? Or you get an e-mail from Amazon confirming your order for an iPhone. You didn’t place them, so you call the number on the e-mail.
The real story — You will get put through to a scam call centre (not Amazon, Norton or any well know company) who will pretend to give you a refund. They’ll probably ask you to install remote control software like AnyDesk on your computer or phone, fill an on line form and then check your bank for the refund. When you do you may see you’ve received a much bigger refund than you were entitled to, at which point they ask you to pay the difference back, by bank transfer, sending cash in a package or using gift cards. In reality you didn’t get any money, so any money you send is your own and you’ll be out of pocket. This is referred to as “authorised push payment fraud” by banks as you’re authorising the money to be sent.
Amazon has recently been warning customers of this very scam in the form of a fake Amazon Prime renewal e-mail where scammers will advise you about a renewal, often at an inflated price, and then take you to a form to cancel this, or ask you to call to do so. Both of these avenues lead to you being scammed as you’re not talking to the real Amazon. Watch out and make sure any friends & family members are also on the lookout for these.
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Just received one now. Clicked on the email address that it was sent from, and it shows that it didn’t come from amazon. Simple check.
Just received a fake message from amazon. Clicked on the email address that it was sent from and it didn’t have the correct amazon email address. Easy check.