The scammers are out in full force these days.

It seems like I come across a story about a new phone scam every couple of weeks, but until today, I had never received a call.

I say it was the first scam call I’ve received, but they could’ve tried in the past and I never answered the call, because I don’t typically answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize.

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Today, however, I was expecting to hear from a cable technician in regards to a recent install, so I answered what appeared to be a call from a local cell number.

When I answered, I was greeted by a robot that told me suspicious account activity had been identified. Specifically, someone had just purchased a new iPhone on my account and that I needed to press “1” to speak with a representative.

I immediately hung up and googled “Amazon phone call scam” and sure enough, the scam has been going around for a while now.

It apparently had gotten so bad, that the Federal Trade Commission blogged about it back in December 2020.

Apparently, scammers are posing as Amazon and Apple employees in an effort to rip people off. In both instances, they’ll either tell you to press “1” or they’ll give you a phone number to call. Don’t fall for it. Immediately hang up. They’re looking to steal personal info such as your password or credit card number.

If you’ve received one of these calls, report it to FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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