The Scammers Are Back

Back? They’ve never gone away. At 1.30 on Wednesday afternoon, I received a phone call from a robot voice that informed me my bank account was about to be debited a large sum for the purchase of a phone through Amazon. I was invited to press 1 on my keypad; I did so, knowing full well this call wasn’t from Amazon.

A young lady answered, her accent was possibly Indian; when she said she was from Amazon, I told her she wasn’t. She insisted, but I asked her “How stupid do you think I am?”

Her response was “You black people” and “You bloody idiot”. Then she hung up. Black indeed, and idiot even less. Her call came from 004 9329842839. This and similar numbers are often used by scammers; because they operate from outside the UK (or whatever country they are targeting) they are seldom brought to book, although sometimes minor players do end up in court. In January last year, scammers conned a woman out of nearly forty thousand pounds. Teesside University student Ramesh Karuturi agreed to launder around half that sum through his bank account, and was recently given a five month sentence at Teesside Crown Court.  His visa has been revoked and he will very likely be deported after he completes his sentence. Would you believe he was studying cyber-security?

Don’t be taken in by scammers. If you have a problem with Amazon or any company, phone them, even if they appear to phone you first.