Streaming service scam
Allison Rennie thought she was browsing an online advert. Little did she know it would cost her thousands of dollars and hours of angst.
The Hamilton grandmother fell victim to scammers posing behind the name of a mainstream online streaming service in April and doesn’t want it to happen to others.
Rennie, 75, was getting ready to head to the UK for a holiday and King Charles’ coronation, while looking after her 11-year-old granddaughter.
“She loves YouTube. Dad came and picked her up, and I went to change the channel, but saw this ‘Prime Video’ advert come up. And I know my son’s got Prime Video and I thought that might be interesting.”
Rennie started filling in the application form. She can’t remember if she put in any bank details, but she didn’t give consent to proceed.
“I just cleared it and clicked out of it.” That was just the start of Rennie’s troubles. The following day there was an invoice from an organisation claiming to be Prime Video for a monthly subscription of $199.99 in her emails.
Who was behind the scam is unclear but it appears to be a different entity from the reputable online streaming service from Amazon, which only charges $8 a month. Amazon Australia was contacted for comment but had yet to respond.
A caller asked Rennie to open her bank accounts so they could refund her money – then did the opposite.
“I rang the 09 number [on the invoice], but I didn’t get a reply. So I quickly sent off an email to them to say I don’t want this, and if you have taken money I would like it refunded.”
That night Rennie got a phone call from an 09 number asking what they could do to help.
“I had no idea I was being drawn into this scam ... He said to get an identification that we’re speaking to the right person we will need your driver’s licence.”
Rennie provided a photo of her licence. The caller then claimed that because Prime Video is owned by Amazon they would have to refund bitcoin, and that wasn’t working so it would have to be in crypto currency.
The caller asked if she had a laptop, and said “you will need to open your bank account for the refund”.
“I thought I was looking for the refund. Then next minute I see a little green arrow going over my bank accounts. I yelled at him, the bank had put out an alert. But I saw they had taken little bits of money.”
The scammers sent invoices using bogus Prime Video and Amazon letterheads.
Rennie said she wouldn’t have trusted the call had it not come from an 09 number. It was 10pm, Rennie had rung the bank and told the scammer she’d had enough.
But he rang back at 7am the next day – by which stage the bank had closed it all down.
Her bank, BNZ, was very helpful, but she still had $7000 taken out of more than one account. She’s been reimbursed half but is still owed nearly $3000.
Rennie admits “I’m a bit naive” when it comes to scamming.