New Kensington woman warns shoppers about new customer service representative scam
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A local woman is issuing a warning about a new potential scam involving Amazon.
The scam involves an Amazon shopper and someone who she thought was a customer service representative who nearly gained access to her device.
Aleigha DiDonato of New Kensington said there was an issue with one of her Amazon orders over the weekend. She received a legit error message about the purchase directly from the seller inside the Amazon app.
But she decided to research what the error meant.
"I was like I'm just going to type into Google what my problem is. And the first thing to pop up was the Amazon customer service number. So I'm like, oh this will be easy. I can talk to someone," said DiDonato.
She was connected with someone who she thought was an Amazon customer service representative named Edward.
He seemed like he had her best interest at heart until he tried to convince her to download the AnyDesk Remote Desktop app, which is a remote access app that allows people to tap into your device from a remote location.
It can be useful when used for its intended purpose, but in this case, "I got totally suspicious and I went to the comments and I hung up as soon as I read that it was a scam," said DiDonato.
She did the right thing by reading the reviews first. Caitlin Driscoll from the Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania said this has scam written all over it.
Driscoll said the BBB has seen customers with airlines, tech support companies and retailers get scammed by phony customer service reps who are creating spoof phone numbers and paying to have those phone numbers show up in search results.
She said you must confirm that number directly on the business' website before calling.
"We often hear of this happening when people use Google Assistant or Siri or Alexa. They'll ask them to contact a specific company's customer service number and while it may seem quick and convenient, some people get connected to scammers instead of legitimate representatives," Driscoll said.
Driscoll said with the summer months approaching, customers using travel, airlines and hotel sites will likely be targeted by these scams.