According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), imposter scams are among the top three schemes criminals use to fleece their victims.. A tool scammers now use to increase their leverage is a fake invoice.
In recent weeks many consumers have reported getting an email from Amazon, Apple, McAfee and other trusted brands. The invoice confirms an order that never took place and shows a bill amount of several hundred dollars.
The alarmed consumer quickly calls the fake customer service number on the fake invoice and all sorts of bad things can happen. These scammers seem to be after more than personal information about their victims.
According to one Secret Service affidavit, one scammer told the victim the money had already been auto-paid from her checking account. Moments later, the scammer, posing as a customer service representative from the company that allegedly sent the invoice, said there had been a mistake: The money was refunded but the refund was for thousands of dollars more than it should have been.
Could the victim kindly transfer the money back? And one other thing, please send it in Bitcoin.
There are usually many red flags in these types of schemes and asking for Bitcoin is one of them. But if the victim is upset and worried, they may miss that.
The FTC says imposter scammers are now very likely to include some type of forged document like the one below that purports to be from Netflix.
Red flags
There are several things to suggest that the document is not real – including the greeting and the spelling of “center” and “centre,” but if someone is worried they can’t watch Netflix until they get it straightened out, they may react before thinking clearly.
The FTC warns that scammers posing as a business or organization may:
say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts — they haven’t
claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information — there isn’t
say you need to confirm some personal or financial information — you don’t
include an invoice you don’t recognize — it’s fake
want you to click on a link to make a payment — but the link has malware
say you’re eligible to register for a government refund — it’s a scam
offer a coupon for free stuff — it’s not real
The FTC says that real companies might communicate with you by email, legitimate companies won’t email or text with a link to update your payment information.