Tech Talk with Bob: A GIFT CARD SCAM My friend Bea had an experience that really rattled her nerves. She received an email from “Amazon” telling her that her account was charged $3,000.00 for a television. After confirming with Tony, her husband, that he didn’t buy it, they concluded it must be a mistake. Tony immediately called the customer service phone number that was included in the email. Once he finally got through to “customer service” he received yet more discouraging news. Bea and Tony’s Amazon account had been hacked according to the “representative.” Needless to say, they were both astounded. Fortu-
18 MARCH 2021
nately the “representative” was able to offer them a quick solution. For $500.00 the “rep” could repair the “hacked account” and expunge the charges for the $3,000.00 television. Tony wasn’t thrilled with the solution but reluctantly agreed to the “rep’s” terms. Tony reached for his American Express card to pay. As Tony read off his Amex number the “rep” immediately stopped the transaction and told Tony that their credit card processing system had just gone down, again. The “rep” explained to Tony that they were having problems with the system all day. Tony asked if the “rep” would call him
when the system came back up. The “rep” agreed but warned that if Tony delayed, that $3,000.00 TV might ship before the order could be cancelled; and then Tony would also have to pay the shipping to return the TV. In order to expedite the cancellation the “rep” suggested Tony pay with a $500.00 gift card. The “rep” explained that they process gift cards on a different system than credit cards, so that even though their credit card system was currently down, they could still process the payment by having Tony read off the numbers on a gift card. Tony sent Bea out to pick up a $500.00 gift card.
While waiting for Bea to return, Tony asked the “rep” how something like this could happen and why he had to pay so much? The “rep” explained that it was not Amazon who was hacked, but it was Tony’s IP address that had been hacked which led to Tony’s Amazon account being hacked. Therefore the financial responsibility fell on Tony, according to the
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