The FTC has warned consumers of an increase in robocalls from scammers pretending to be representatives from tech giant Apple as well as Amazon.
MacRumors reports that the FTC has issued a warning in an attempt to raise awareness of a new scam that uses robocalls pretending to represent Amazon and Apple to fool users.
The calls reportedly come in two forms. In one, a recorded message informs listeners that a suspicious purchase made through their Amazon account is unable to be fulfilled. In the second, a scam targeted Apple customers claims that suspicious activity was noticed on their iCloud account.
In both cases, the calls ask listeners to press the number one on their telephone to speak with someone or gives them a number to call. The FTC warns in a blog post:
Don’t do either, it’s a scam. They’re trying to steal your personal information, like your account password or your credit card number.
If you get an unexpected call or message about a problem with any of your accounts, hang up.
- Do not press 1 to speak with customer support
- Do not call a phone number they gave you
- Do not give out your personal information
If you think there may actually be a problem with one of your accounts, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real.
Robocalls have been an issue for users across devices created by Apple, Google, and others. While users can block the phone number the robocall came from, there is nothing preventing scammers from using a new phone number to contact users once again.
T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T have their own fraud and scam protection services but often charge users for features such as caller ID, blocking, and spam lookup.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com