A Cautionary Tale

This week I dodged a bullet. Barely. Let me explain. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.

Step One: I received an email that looked legitimate. It said my Amazon account was charged $536.00 for Bitcoins. It further said that if I didn’t authorize that charge, I should immediately call the number on my screen.

What did I do? I called the number on my screen.

What I should have done? Look up my orders on Amazon, to see if a Bitcoin order had been placed. Obviously I don’t know enough about Bitcoins to know you don’t buy them on Amazon.

Step Two:  A very nice person named Austin said that she was glad I called right away so she could stop the order. She said she was looking up my order and verified that someone on the “dark web” had placed the order and hacked into my Amazon account. She said that the hackers were established in California, Kansas, Mexico and Russia.

What did I do? I said “Thank you for helping me.”

What should I have done? Taken a deep breath. Been suspicious. Now Austin had my telephone number and I was headed down a rabbit hole.

Step Three: Austin said that in order to block my Amazon account, I needed to go to my local grocery store and wait for instructions.

What did I do? I said I didn’t want to go to the store because it was late and I was getting hungry. Austin continue to reassure me that this was important and she was there to help me. She told me not to hang up. She gave me her direct phone number in case we got disconnected.

What I should have done? Refused to go. Taken another deep breath. Had a glass of wine. Start to fix dinner. Anything ~ except get in my car and drive to the grocery store.

Step Four: I was at the grocery store and Austin was still connected to my phone. I had a text from Amazon, saying that $500.00 had been deposited into my credit card account. Austin told me to get an Amazon gift card for $500.00 and pay for it with my credit card. “You won’t be using your own money, because I just put $500.00 credit on your card,” she reassured me.

What did I do? Although this seemed strange, I did what I was told. There were no Amazon cards available, so Austin told me to get a Target card, “because Amazon and Target have an agreement to help each other with these fraud claims.” 

What should I have done? Checked my credit card balance to see if $500.00 had been deposited. It hadn’t.

Step Five: When I went to pay for the Target gift card with my credit card, the charge was declined. I left the store. Austin was still on hold. I told her what happened. She said I needed to call my credit card company to authorize the charge. I couldn’t input my credit card number on my keypad, so Austin volunteered to place the call for me. She listened in as I stated my credit card number. When the customer service person asked for my full social security number, I gave it to her! 

What did I do? Exactly what I was told. Chase credit card said they would authorize the charge. I returned to the store to buy the gift card. 

What should I have done? Asked more questions. Hang up. By this time I was very annoyed. I was starting to not like Austin at all. It was now almost two hours since the scam started. 

Step Six: Austin told me to read her the card number and the access code. 

What did I do? I read her the card number and access code.

What I should have done? Taken my gift card and gone home. By this time, I was arguing with Austin. She remained calm. I was a screaming banshee.

Step Seven: Austin thanked me for being so helpful. She again assured me that she would clear my Amazon account with this Target card. Then, she told me I needed to go back into the store to buy TWO MORE Target gift cards. She sent me another text stating that my credit card had now been credited for an additional $1000.00.

What did I do? I argued profusely. I said this didn’t seem right, but again I did what I was told. When I tried to buy two more gift cards, my credit card declined the charge. 

What I should have done: Gone home!

Step Eight: I came back to the car to talk to Austin, who was still on the phone. She said we needed to call my credit card company again. This time the wait time was going to be “more than 30 minutes.”

What did I do? I was now fully crazed. I was yelling at Austin. I told her I didn’t believe her any more. I hung up the phone and started my car. Austin called me back and told me we needed to finish this. I told her I was finished.

Finally, when I was home, nearly three hours after getting the first email, I did what I should have done in the first place:

• Been very suspicious. Know that scammers are everywhere!
• Googled the phone number that appeared in my email. The number was registered in China.
• Looked at my Amazon account. There was no charge for Bitcoins. I called Amazon to report my experience to the fraud detection team.
• Called my credit card company to alert them about the hoax. They immediately canceled my card. Today, they removed the $500.00 charge I placed for the first gift card.
• Checked the Target card to see if there was any balance on there. Of course, there wasn’t. Austin had already taken the money from the gift card. It was a classic scam, and I fell for it. 

I am chagrined to tell you what happened to me. I feel stupid. I know this has happened to a lot of people but I thought it couldn’t happen to me. I know I was lucky not to lose any money, but I could have. I still might.