Westchester Insider: Westchester County Legislator Kitley Covill 2nd District: A New Scam To Be Aware Of.

 

Dear Neighbors and Friends,

Yesterday I was almost scammed.  I received a call from Amazon saying that they had put a hold on a charge of $1,499 for an Apple product bought on my account. In fact, I had purchased a new Apple product about a week ago, but not from Amazon.  I looked on my Amazon account and saw nothing, and the caller explained that was because Amazon had "put a hold on it, and therefore I would not see it yet."  He told me I had to fill out a hold/complaint form and started to direct me to a link.  

I pointed out that if Amazon had been hacked, it was up to Amazon to make sure my account is not compromised.  After a few more sentences back and forth, the person hung up.  By now we all have heard variations of the  “grandma it’s your grandson” scam and the “IRS is freezing your bank account” scam and “your Social Security account is about to be closed/frozen etc.”  Please trust your gut.  If it sounds even a little bit off, hang up!

The AARP cautions people to be particularly aware of:

• unsolicited calls from people claiming to work for a government agency, public utility or major tech firm, like Microsoft or Apple. These companies and institutions will rarely call you unless they have first communicated by other means or you have contacted them.
• Unsolicited calls from charity fundraisers, especially after disasters.
• Calls pitching products or services with terms that sound too good to be true. Common scam offers include free product trials, cash prizes, cheap travel packages, medical devices, preapproved loans, debt reduction, and low-risk, high-return investments.
• An automated sales call from a company you have not authorized to contact you. That is an illegal robocall and almost certainly a scam. (Automated calls are permitted for some informational or non-commercial purposes — for example, from political campaigns or nonprofit groups like AARP.) 

It's very sad and infuriating that these scammers tend to prey upon older and more vulnerable people. By educating ourselves and by following these tips from the AARP, we can make sure we and our loved ones are protected from these malicious types of fraud.

Very truly yours,

Kitley S. Covill