Scammers have once again taken to impersonating Amazon, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns, this time in a text message scam known as the “Amazon raffle scam.”
And a Burnaby man says he fell for it.
The scam – also known as the “fitness watch text” or the “Apple Watch raffle scam” – sees a congratulatory text message pop up on consumers’ phones, claiming they’ve won Airpods, an Apple Watch or “some other enticing prize from Amazon,” according to the BBB.
“I was told to click a link to arrange delivery of the item,” the man told the NOW. “But then I had to share a bunch of information and I was stupid to give that out. It’s just so dirty.”
It’s all a big phishing con.
The consumer watchdog said it’s received several reports to its Scam Tracker that mention text messages coming from the numbers 714-883-6385 and 714-507-5880. However, other numbers are also being used.
However, the text message is not from Amazon, and is part of what the BBB said is a long list of scams impersonating the online retail giant since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Last year, BBB received an overwhelming number of reports about scammers impersonating Amazon,” said Karla Laird, manager for community and public relations with the BBB Serving Mainland BC.
“The brand became the second-most impersonated organization in 2020 behind Service Canada. However, scammers are also sending similar texts impersonating other popular brands…
