Police are warning the public to be aware of bogus telephone calls purporting to be from Amazon and other reputable companies.
The scam, which has been widely reported throughout the UK, has resulted in significant sums of money being fraudulently obtained from victims.
Now Police Scotland’s Argyll and West Dunbartonshire division says there has been a local incident recently, when the victim received a call saying their Amazon account had been compromised.
The person was asked to ‘dial 1’ and were then transferred to a ‘service representative’ who asked them to phone a mobile number due to a poor phone connection.
The victim was instructed to download an app onto her phone to prevent her Amazon account from being frozen and was then asked to phone a second number, where a caller purporting to be from a bank told her that money had been taken from her bank account and that she should transfer any remaining money in her account to another account to protect it.
The victim lost a four figure sum of money in the scam.
Community inspector Mo Boyle said: “These scams are often very sophisticated and the bogus callers can be very convincing.
“Unfortunately, telephone and online scams have become more widespread and people are often caught out by the plausible nature of the person on the other end of the line and are persuaded by a sense of urgency from the fraudster to act quickly to act to prevent losing further money.
“We would like to take this opportunity to remind people to stay vigilant and to think twice if they receive an unexpected call or are ever offered something that is too good to be true.”
For further information on staying safe online, please visit the Keep Safe section of our website: www.scotland.police.uk/keep-safe/keep-secure-online
Anyone who believes they have been the victim of a fraud should report the matter by calling 101.
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