The Palos Park police chief is warning residents about a popular telephone scam targeting senior citizens perpetrated by scam artists pretending to work for Amazon.
Chief Joe Miller issued the warning after a 75-year-old man reported last week he was scammed out of $1,000 after receiving a call from someone pretending to work for “Amazon Security.” The man became suspicious and contacted police.
The report was not an unusual one for the Palos Park department. Noting the village is home to a significant population of senior citizens, Miller said his department has warned seniors about the scam at village coffees and community meetings. But police still field at least one report a week of a suspicious robocall and several residents each month fall victim to the scam.
While similar cons aimed at the elderly have existed for decades, recently law enforcement have noted an uptick of robocalls from people masquerading as Amazon employees.
“Since COVID everybody uses Amazon for purchases and deliveries,” Miller said. “They hear their account has been breached, they hear there is a problem with their account, and they want to rectify it immediately.”
The premise begins by a caller informing a resident there has been suspicious activity on their account. To fix the security breach, they are told to purchase gift cards through places such as Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy and Walmart. The seniors are then to call back a supplied telephone number and read the gift card numbers,…
