It's hard to keep up with all those passwords so an Amazon customer, who was locked-out of her account, did what many people would do, she googled a number for customer service.
However, Amazon customer service was not on the line, instead, it was a scammer.
"I am embarrassed I feel like I've been used."
Paula says she called the number that came up as Amazon customer service on a google search.
"They answered the phone Amazon," Paula says.
When Paula explained she forgot her password and was locked out of her account, the person on the other end offered to help.
But the rep didn't work for Amazon at all, and conned her into purchasing multiple Amazon gift cards.
Pauls says the rep explained, "Nothing is getting charged to your account verification on our side. And they got me back in and the page to reset my account."
Paula showed kept emails confirming her purchase of the gift cards.
She suspects the fraudster hacked her account to access the gift cards.
Amazon provided this statement: "We monitor for suspicious activity, including gift card activity, and work with law enforcement and consumer protection agencies to investigate and take action on bad actors. A member of our team has reached out to the customer to get additional information."
Consumer protection experts say we should all be aware of what's going on here.
Adah Rodriquez with BBB says, "Especially now in the day of using Siri or Alexa like we've talked about, unfortunately, a consumer can ask their device to contact customer service for Amazon, or wherever it might be and that could pull up a fraudulent number."
Rodriguez says the BBB scam tracker shows customer service impostors are making big money off of unsuspecting callers.
Rodriguez says, "I think absolutely there are consumers who are accidentally of course reaching out to scammers and going to them when they aren't going through the company websites, or ensuring they have the right number before speaking to someone and so yeah it gets even riskier because it's a two way street unfortunately."
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