idenity theft?

[porthos]

got a e-mail from amazon. had a lot of numbers florida location $with money amounts ect... and a phone # to contact got no answer only a rcording about being out of service. so, i contacted Amazon . they said that my account is fine. but i did later get a e-mail from them stating that they never contacted me. ant that that phone # is not theirs. oh, the original e-mail is deleted not by me. so, went to the trash bin on the computer to bring back the original message, and, there is nothing there. any thoughts on what i can do??

[Winger Ed.]

That's one of the latest fads in on line crime/fraud.
I've gotten ones like that claiming to be from Amazon, and from the Post Office.

Another one that went around no long ago was someone claiming they had a video of you
watching porn and 'spanking the monkey'.
If you didn't send them a large amount of money in bitcoin, they'd send the video to everyone on you email list.

Anyway:
It sounds like you've done about all ya can to protect yourself.

[nvbirdman]

I lost a hand five years ago. Which hand was I spanking the monkey with?

[Rcmaveric]

Due to all the training i get from work and my wifes gullibility. I am quite familiar with identity theft and how hard itnis to fight.

Its called phishing. The emailer pretended to be an official thing hoping you would click the links. Most often redirecting you to a spoofed website that looks like the official one hoping you would input your username snd password so they could then access your account. If you had inputed your login info it would have said it doesnt work. You would have thought you did it incorrectly. Maybe tried a few other passwords you commonly use while the scammer is recording all your inputs. They now have your login email and common paswords. The will reverse search your email and try to access all your accounts.

Go to the official website you type in. Log in and check activity. Which you said you called and there was none. Change your password to be safe.

They most likely recalled the email to cover their tracks. Next time you get a suspicious email. Emediately save it. So you can forward it to who to the official company for investigation. People at Amazon and Google get paid big money to track down scammers and processecute them.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[alexandrobjorn]

I would protect myself with double authentication and password change on all sites. I really hope that you don't have the same password for websites. I made this mistake once.

[Sasquatch-1]

I was getting these same types of emails a while back. I never click on the links in the email but got to the site for the company (if it is one I use) and check. If not, I just ignore it. I used to forward things like this to Amazon and email providers but never saw any results.

[MrWolf]

I was getting these same types of emails a while back. I never click on the links in the email but got to the site for the company (if it is one I use) and check. If not, I just ignore it. I used to forward things like this to Amazon and email providers but never saw any results.

Same here. I manually put in the company name or website address in a new tab to check. A lot of times my computer will alert me even when clicking on a normal email that something isn't quite right and stop me - annoying but that is what the software is for.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I lost a hand five years ago. Which hand was I spanking the monkey with?

I am guessing the non existent video would be with the non existent hand , scammers and the emails and phone calls , they can afford some entertainment if one is bored and has the time and twisted thoughts to torque their head bolts , had one so mad he was foaming at the mouth going to report me to the feds , could not even speak good english .

[MUSTANG]

Any odd or suspicious e-mail I receive immediately gets selected and the "Report Phishing" button on my email provider is pushed. I too believe not much of anything is done with these; but if we don't try to report/prosecute they are at best allowed to roam the Internet free; and at worst continue to rip people off.

My biggest GRUMBLE is we pay the FBI BIG BUCKS $$$$$$$ every year in Taxpayer dollars to investigate and prosecute these crimes - and apparently NO RESULTS are achieved.




An extract from an article on FBI and 4.2$ Billion in scams reported - https://www.cyberscoop.com/fbi-ic3-cybercrime-4-billion-fraud/
American victims reported $4.2 billion in losses as a result of cybercrime and internet fraud to the FBI in 2020, a roughly 20% uptick in the money known to be lost to scammers in 2019, the bureau said in a new report.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, the organization through which U.S. citizens and businesses report financial losses from hackers, said in its annual report released Wednesday that it received an average of more than 2,000 complaints per day through 2020.

The uptick in crime reporting — the bureau says it received an average of 1,200 complaints per day in 2019 — is driven largely by business email compromise (BEC), ransomware attacks and widespread technology support scams, in which fraudsters impersonate customer support representatives from tech firms or financial institutions, only to dupe victims into sending wire transfers.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

When I get those calls from saying they are from Amazon I just hang up and forget it. It's just another scam.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I get 2 or 3 fraud emails everyday. I report them.

[.45Cole]

Always use a credit card with online retailers and suspicious deals. It's easier than you'd think to report the fraud charge and get a new card. Anybody contacting you without your name and account number is a scam, if it's a legit contact they will try again if you ignore the first. Scams always work "against the clock" pressure".

[fixit]

Sounds like the phishing scam I'm dealing with .... I keep getting warnings that my Chase Manhattan debut card has had an unauthorized log-on, and it's been locked down according..... I don't have any dealings with Chase Manhattan! Everything gets blocked, accordingly.

[bangerjim]

So far, I have bought 6 MacBooks, 5 iPhones, 4 huge flatscreen TVs and a bunch of misc garbage. None of which I ordered. And all the emails thank me for the payment on my cc card...which Amazon does not have! And the stuff shipped to various addresses across the US, none of which are me!

I get at least 6 of them every day!

Watch out for the Amazon scams. There are also "prize winner" scams from Costco, Walmart, Walgreens, Best Buy, and others...............just waiting in my email inbox!

Never open any of them, click on any reply links, or call the numbers listed. It is a waste of time to report them to the scam department addresses all companies have. There are so many of these, they don't have time or manpower to chase them down.

Always look at the properties and see what the url and domain of the sender is. It will NEVER be from the legitimate business. And all good companies you deal with will KNOW YOUR NAME, not "dear user" or some other generalization garbage like that.

Buyer Beware.

[Horn Ridge]

I would say we have been hit once a year for the last 7-8 years with large ticket purchases in far away states. Fortunately our bank has been faster than we have to spot them before we even see it. Hopefully that trend continues.

[Horn Ridge]

There are also a lot of FedEx / UPS tracking scams out there. Just be leery opening those and don't click links!

[bangerjim]

That's one of the latest fads in on line crime/fraud.
I've gotten ones like that claiming to be from Amazon, and from the Post Office.

Another one that went around no long ago was someone claiming they had a video of you
watching porn and 'spanking the monkey'.
If you didn't send them a large amount of money in bitcoin, they'd send the video to everyone on you email list.

Anyway:
It sounds like you've done about all ya can to protect yourself.

That video threat email scam is a hoot! I get one about every month or so. I just hit the delete key and move on.

1. I don't have a camera or mic on my office computer
2. I don't log into porn sites
3. They cannot tell I opened the email and read it as they state. (I have triple firewalls with 24-bit encrypted passwords, so nobody gets in!)
4. Nobody can access my email list
5. I do not do any kind of social media garbage like so many today do.

Just part of the global internet society we have built for ourselves. :violin::violin:

[Handloader109]

If you do more than hit the delete key, you are wasting your time. Ain't no one going to do anything about reducing or eliminating these scams.
Never, ever click on ANY link inside of an email unless you are positive it is a good email. If you have a question, delete. NO bank, Credit card, on line seller or almost any other company will send you an email unless you have requested them to.

I've been getting fake invoices which is pretty new. They are for internet services for my company. All totally fake.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[bangerjim]

If you do more than hit the delete key, you are wasting your time. Ain't no one going to do anything about reducing or eliminating these scams.
Never, ever click on ANY link inside of an email unless you are positive it is a good email. If you have a question, delete. NO bank, Credit card, on line seller or almost any other company will send you an email unless you have requested them to.

I've been getting fake invoices which is pretty new. They are for internet services for my company. All totally fake.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

I forgot about the fake invoices! I get at least 1-2 every week for internet services, Norton, Mcafee, GEEKSQUAD, etc. thanking me for paying the $399.99 6-month service contract. I have NO service contracts with anyone and none of those companies have my cc!

Just watch out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The invoice thing is a new scam technique that is everywhere. They want you to call and protest and that is where/how they can get your vital info!

[Horn Ridge]

I’ve gotten two Amazon order scams in the past two weeks. They look pretty legit until you look at the sender’s email address.

[Scrounge]

So far, I have bought 6 MacBooks, 5 iPhones, 4 huge flatscreen TVs and a bunch of misc garbage. None of which I ordered. And all the emails thank me for the payment on my cc card...which Amazon does not have! And the stuff shipped to various addresses across the US, none of which are me!

I get at least 6 of them every day!

Watch out for the Amazon scams. There are also "prize winner" scams from Costco, Walmart, Walgreens, Best Buy, and others...............just waiting in my email inbox!

Never open any of them, click on any reply links, or call the numbers listed. It is a waste of time to report them to the scam department addresses all companies have. There are so many of these, they don't have time or manpower to chase them down.

Always look at the properties and see what the url and domain of the sender is. It will NEVER be from the legitimate business. And all good companies you deal with will KNOW YOUR NAME, not "dear user" or some other generalization garbage like that.

Buyer Beware.

I got a really nifty one from CVS today. Yeah, the drug store. Horribly bad spelling, just emptied the spam folder. Ta-Ta!