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Niagara, Cattaraugus county sheriff's offices warn residents of Amazon customer support scam

Scammers claiming they work at Amazon are requesting personal information such as Social Security numbers or bank routing numbers.

NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — The Niagara County and Cattaraugus County sheriff's offices are warning residents about a new scam going around.

The Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Office on Friday said scammers claiming they work at Amazon are requesting personal information such as Social Security numbers or bank routing numbers.

They say if you receive any phone calls of that nature, you should immediately contact local police.

The Niagara County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that some callers claim to be with Amazon customer support and advise you of suspicious activity on your account. The scammer may leave a false phone number for the organization.

When the consumer responds, the scammer convinces victims to log on to their computer, further telling the consumer to go to unusual sites, enter codes or other information, make odd purchases and in some cases, allow the scammer to gain control of their computer. When the scammer is in control, they will have access to your bank accounts, passwords or other sensitive information, as well as install malware.

The Sheriff's Office says if you get an unusual call from Amazon or another business warning you of a potential security breach, do not give out your personal information.

When in doubt, log into your Amazon account and contact customer service via a site you know is legitimate. The Sheriff's Office says to use caution when searching online for a phone number for Amazon or other companies.

If you think you have fallen victim to this scam, the Sheriff's Office says to take immediate action to secure your information by changing your passwords on accounts, computers, routers and using 2-step authentication. Notify your bank, credit bureaus and other applicable institutions about the issue.

The Sheriff's Office says while some departments at Amazon will make outbound calls to customers, Amazon has stated they will never ask customers to disclose or verify their password, credit card or banking account number.

If you receive a phone call like this, the Sheriff's Office says to report the phone call to Amazon directly. Click here for the link to report it. If you had funds stolen, please contact the Niagara County Sheriff's Office at 716-438-3393 to file a criminal incident report.

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