New Amazon Prime phone scam

What’s the threat?

Phone scammers are posing as Amazon to con you out of cash or take control of your PC. There are at least two versions of the scam: one falsely claims you’ve renewed your subscription to Amazon Prime and that a payment (currently £79 per year) has been taken from your account, while the other claims your account has been hacked and a refund needs to be issued.

A pre-recorded voice gives you the option to talk to someone to resolve the problem, putting you through to a fake customer-services representative. The scammer will try to trick you into revealing your banking details, or logging into your Amazon account and giving them remote access to your PC.

How can you stay safe?

All the usual anti- phishing advice applies here, so we won’t rehash that. The key thing in this case is to hang up the phone and, if you’re able, block the caller’s number. As Amazon says on its security help pages, the company will never contact you by phone to ask for a payment or offer a refund, so any calls like these are fake.

To put your mind at rest, visit Amazon’s Your Account page ( www.snipca.com/33098) and click Prime at the top-right (see screenshot). This will show whether you’re subscribed to Amazon Prime. Also check your bank account for any unauthorised payments to Amazon. For extra peace of mind, consider enabling two-step verification on your Amazon account ( www.snipca.com/33099).

You can report phishing scams to Amazon at www.snipca.com/33100. The page is designed to submit spoof emails, but you can click Contact Us to chat online or request a callback from a (genuine) member of Amazon’s support team.