{"id":148534,"date":"2021-11-24T03:48:29","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T08:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=148534"},"modified":"2021-11-24T03:50:21","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T08:50:21","slug":"yost-warns-of-holiday-scam-robocalls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2021\/11\/24\/yost-warns-of-holiday-scam-robocalls\/","title":{"rendered":"Yost: beware of holiday scam robocalls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>VW independent\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COLUMBUS &#8212; With the holiday shopping season underway, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is warning consumers that illegal robocallers are trying to ruin Christmas by posing as a legitimate business such as Amazon, Apple or PayPal to steal your money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These scammers call out of the blue and suggest \u2013 under the guise of wanting to help remedy the situation \u2013 that a large purchase has been charged to your credit card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"249\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Auditor-of-State-Dave-Yost-headshot-1-2018.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97432\"\/><figcaption>Dave Yost<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLegitimate companies don\u2019t do business this way, so just hang up,\u201d Yost said. \u201cThese impostors want to get you on the line and cause panic so you cough up personal information. My hope is that you will answer by ending the call.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), various Amazon impersonation scams \u2013 many involving claims that a consumer has ordered an expensive product or service \u2013 are filling phone lines throughout the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201crepresentative\u201d then persuades the consumer to give him or her remote access to the consumer\u2019s device so the \u201crepresentative\u201d can issue a \u201crefund.\u201d Instead, the scammer gains access to the consumer\u2019s personal identifying information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a variation of the scam, the fraudster persuades the consumer to buy gift cards as a way of \u201cstopping\u201d the unauthorized purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Amazon\u2019s website, company guidelines make clear that Amazon would never call a customer to seek personal information or discuss a refund that the customer isn\u2019t already expecting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office offers these tips to help consumers deal with business impostor scams:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Hang up if you receive a cold call from someone claiming that you have purchased an item from Amazon or another popular online retailer. Do not call back the number on your caller ID or the phone number mentioned in the message. Instead, if you are concerned about the supposed purchase, contact the retailer using its legitimate phone number or email address. Customer service contact information can typically be found on the company\u2019s website. <\/li><li>Carefully examine the details of your online account purchases and credit card bills for any unauthorized charges. If you see an unauthorized charge, report it immediately to your credit card company. <\/li><li>Never allow a stranger to remotely access your smartphone, tablet or computer. If the caller claims to need remote access to process a refund, it\u2019s a scam. <\/li><li>Be highly suspicious of requests from a stranger to buy gift cards as payment for any product or service as part of a \u201crefund\u201d process or to allegedly help stop fraud from a third party. Know that once you disclose a gift card\u2019s PIN to someone, that person will be able to access the money on the card. <\/li><li>To report a scam, contact the legitimate retailer through the contact information on its website and the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Help Center.<\/li><li>If you\u2019ve fallen victim to a business impostor scam by disclosing personal identifying information, download the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s ID Theft Basics publication and visit <a href=\"https:\/\/indentitytheft.gov\">www.identitytheft.gov<\/a> for help on how to proceed.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Consumers who suspect an unfair or deceptive sales practice should contact the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office at <a href=\"https:\/\/OhioProtects.org\">www.OhioProtects.org<\/a> or 1.800.282.0515.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VW independent\/submitted information COLUMBUS &#8212; With the holiday shopping season underway, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is warning consumers that illegal robocallers are trying to ruin Christmas by posing as a legitimate business such as Amazon, Apple or PayPal to steal your money. These scammers call out of the blue and suggest \u2013 under the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 16:44:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}