Amazon? I think not!

[Arthur Rubin]

I got a call this morning from "Amazon" saying that your order for <indecipherable, probably porn> for $999.99 did not go through. Press 1 to speak to an operator.

I hung up at that point. They obviously think that the boundary between grand theft and petty theft is $1000, though.

[The Observer]

I got an e-mail several weeks ago, purportedly from Amazon Prime that stated my account with them was in danger of being cancelled and I needed to contact them to correct the problem; of course, to contact them, the mail instructed me to "click the link below." Since I never have had an Amazon Prime account, I had no problem if the sender "cancelled" my non-existent account.

[Burnaby49]

I got an e-mail several weeks ago, purportedly from Amazon Prime that stated my account with them was in danger of being cancelled and I needed to contact them to correct the problem; of course, to contact them, the mail instructed me to "click the link below." Since I never have had an Amazon Prime account, I had no problem if the sender "cancelled" my non-existent account.

I've gotten that one half a dozen times in the last few months. Also a similar one saying that my Norton subscription had expired and needed to be renewed.

[Judge Roy Bean]

These are typical - the scammers can buy very specific lists on the dark web, including pilfered lists of various product license expirations and couple them up with some fairly inexpensive packages to foist onto people.

[Burnaby49]

These are typical - the scammers can buy very specific lists on the dark web, including pilfered lists of various product license expirations and couple them up with some fairly inexpensive packages to foist onto people.

Neither my Amazon Prime membership nor my Norton subscription had expired. The emails were obviously just mass postings with the sender ignorant of whether or not the recipients had Prime or Norton subscriptions.

[noblepa]

I get calls from someone (usually a recording), saying that the license for the Windows Operating System on my computer has expired. I think that they give a specific price of $300 or so, to renew. If I fail to renew, my computer will stop working.

As far email scams that ask you to click on a link to "fix" the problem, if you float your mouse over the link, but do not click, the actual URL that it will go to should appear in the lower left of the screen. That is a tipoff that they are not who they say they are. That URL can not be spoofed, while the text showing where it is going to take you, can.

[AndyK]

Our family cell phone account is in my wife's name.

Almost every morning, I receive a text "Karen, yada, yada, yada ..."

Makes it much easier to ignore them.

[Arthur Rubin]

... Also a similar one saying that my Norton subscription had expired and needed to be renewed.

But if you had a Norton subscription, and it had expired, it would interfere with the operation of your computer. (Actually, it's not much different from it not being expired, except it won't report its action in regard what it thinks* is malware.)

*I'm not intending to imply the existence of artificial intelligence in Norton software.

[Number Six]

Scams and frauds have gone up a lot during the pandemic. Just think of the billions in stimulus payments from the California government that ended up on the other side of the Atlantic due to sly frauds.

I'm hoping for much tougher and retroactive enforcements as the system comes back to life this year.