Hackettstown Man Taken For $2,000 In 'Amazon' Scam

Hackettstown NJ

12 March, 2021

12:00 PM

Description

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ - A 41-year-old Hackettstown man was victimized by scammers posing as an Amazon employee, according to the Hackettstown Police Department. According to authorites, the man received a text message from 1-833-472-0959), which he believed to be from Amazon, in reference to someone that purchased items with his information. The victim called the phone number provided, 1-833-220-3127, and the scammer stated that he needed to purchase gift cards to resolve the problem. The victim went to a store to purchase $2,000 worth of gift cards and then read the numbers to the scammer. The scammer then asked for another $2,000 worth of gift cards and the victim refused and hung up the phone. The victim then received numerous phone calls from 206-400-8066, police said. "We can't stress this enough, gift cards are for gifts, not for payments," police said in a statement. "If someone calls with urgent news or a convincing story and then pressures you to pay them by buying gift cards and then giving them the codes on the back of the card, stop. It's a scam." Report scams by filing a complaint at ftc.gov/complaint. Be sure to include: Date and time of the callName of the agency the imposter usedWhat they tell you, including the amount of money and the payment method they ask forPhone number of the caller; although scammers may use technology to create a fake number or spoof a real one, law enforcement agents may be able to track that number to identify the callerAny other details from the callThanks for reading! Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Have a news tip you'd like to share? Got photos? Please include express written permission from the photographer for us to use them. Or maybe you have a press release you would like to submit or a correction you'd like to request? Send an email to [email protected] Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter. You can also have them delivered to your phone screen by downloading, or by visiting the Google Play store.