I've been getting TONS of spam and real alerts. ie: We can't verify your email address, so we will start sending you paper billing. What? Your emailing me "now", I'm getting the email....yet you want to start paper billing me?! That was legit!

Then tons of spam email, ie: Trying to get me to call them to discuss the Geek Squad charge I was just approved to pay. Or my Paypal account has been limited. Not true. Or Chase bank needs me to verify something...If I will just press this link to login...NO I WILL NOT!.

I DID get the Amazon alert as well....

I keep getting an "Amazon" email telling me that my order that ran over a thousand dollars is on it's way and to click the link to track it. Yeah, right.

I hope everyone knows that payment methods fail only at the instant when a purchase charge is submitted for the card number. Not at other times.

The world isn't that difficult or complicated but people need to understand do's and don't's of what they have and use.

i received 3 emails in a row saying that they (Amazon) could not process my payment...

went on their home page and there is a link to send amazon the spam emails... i have done this about 5 times in the last year...

Whether an email, a phone call, or snail mail, there's no need to do anything with phony messages other than to ignore and dispose of them.

When you buy something on Amazon, choose the "payment method" (i have a few different ones, for different reasons), and then click the button that says something like "submit order". The screen refreshes after a few moments and says something like "Thank you for your purchase". Nothing further happens, the charge has been approved. Other online websites work the same way.

After I went to https://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN (if you want to try it, be aware that you need to turn off your firewall and adblockers, and allow third party cookies - I also paused my antivirus- JUST while running the optout - and you may need to repeat it 2-4 times to get all of the advertisers), and ran it a few times, my daily spam/phishing went from 2-3 dozen/day to 3 or 4 only.

But I don't know if or how I somehow opened the floodgates - in the past day I have received 70 spam emails!!! All filtered into my spam folder, fortunately (thanks, MSN). I've reported them and blocked each sender, but it is a case of whack-a-mole. Each email came from a different address/domain.

I could create rules that automatically delete email with the words in the spam emails (eg "Costco-Giveaway"), but that only works if it hits my inbox. Since they go straight to the spam folder, those rules don't apply.

Same problem, except I get a weekly reminder about my cc for my kindle account.My solution, I buy Amazon gift card at various locations and put them in my account, no cc involved at Amazon.

The emails are getting better, more realistic looking, less typos and grammatical errors by obvious foreigners. My rule of thumb is never click on a link in an email, unless it’s something like a verification email that I’m expecting that exact moment. Of the bank seems to want to be telling me something, I’ll log onto their website or app and look for messages. Trust nothing is a good rule of thumb when it comes to emails.

I've noticed a number of those lately. I'm not a Prime member.

Sadly, there's always someone who will get taken by this stuff. That's why the scammers do it. And emails cost nothing to send. Literally thousands or more can be sent in one go, so the odds are somebody's sure to click. Not everyone is savvy about such things.

"Not everyone is savvy about such things."

There a difference between being not savvy and being stupid. For some, it's the latter shortcoming that's the problem.

An oldster in my extended family had her checkbook and credit cards taken away by her kids (themselves no spring chickens) because of her inability to follow their instructions and understand the risks most deal with without difficulty. She gets enough cash to spend every few weeks, has her essentials delivered to her and her bills are paid on her behalf.

It's not a case of diminished ability with advancing age. She's long been pretty dim witted and the greater cleverness of the cons, as food describes just above, are beyond her ability to deal with and understand.

I pay by paper, snail mail, so there's no doubt when random emails arrive they are garbage.

Preying on the inexperienced, uninformed, or even the downright stupid, is bad enough. Targeting older people because they are more likely to have diminished ability to make good decisions is even more despicable. My dad's first retirement community, where he was in Independent Living for over ten years, held regular seminars to educate folks about scams. Dad had it drilled into his head "I Never Give Out My Banking Information Over The Phone, Send Me A Brochure And I Will Consider A Donation." Then hang up. How many times did I sit there while he answered the phone and that was his 'programmed' response. It held good even while his mental abilities did in fact diminish.

So I'm trying to get it deep into my head, "I Never Give Out My Banking Information To Any Site I Did Not Initiate." :-(

i agree with some or most older people have diminished capacity but i also think that was a more trusting generation. they didn't have to deal with the internet, spam phone calls etc...

they think 'everyone is so nice'....

I‘m currently getting emails thanking me for renewing my Norton anti virus subscription and giving me a number to call if this charge is in error. This one is a no brainer as I don’t use Norton.

"i agree with some or most older people have diminished capacity but i also think that was a more trusting generation. they didn't have to deal with the internet, spam phone calls etc..."

This is absolute nonsense!! Especially the "most" comment. My brother is 83, my sister 80 and I am about to turn 73.....we are ALL "older people" :-) And believe it or not, we are all quite capable of rational thought and there is very little "diminished" about our capacity to deal with the modern world and with common technology. We all had active business careers that involved using computers and each still run our own business although my brother is mostly retired these days and only does infrequent consultations and all of us are very familiar with computers, tablets, smart phones and managing a wireless household. I have been using the Internet and computers since home computers became a 'thing' back in the late 80's.

I am not sure why so many younger people (see - I can make the same baseless generalizations!) think you lose all brain function when you hit a certain age and I find comments to that effect offensive and demeaning. All the seniors I know are vital, active members of society with full intellectual capacity and the intelligence and wisdom that comes from life experience and can run intellectual rings around many younger individuals.

I am sure that there are seniors that do fit into this category......but I am also sure that there are younger people who are also duped by scams. Intelligence and ability to reason is NOT the sole purview of those under retirement age!!

Don't forget that a lot of people are on meds that can make them foggy and confused - and yes there are people who may not be the brightest bulb on the tree, along with people who've had brain injuries & disabilities from accident or age.

Why be judgemental of people who cannot help it?

For whatever reason, many people are taken in by these scams. I think reporting the scammers is helpful, as is periodic threads of this nature to both point out the latest scams, forewarned is forearmed and to remind us all to be careful.

Alert : Your payment method failed.

Many people have recurring monthly charges, for instance for an AmazonPrime membership. I would think that few remember precisely the day of the month the renewal occurs. If a payment method has allegedly failed for the renewal, one can exit the email, go to the site, and see whether there is in fact an issue. Never try to take care of a purported issue within the email itself.

I get emails for my stepdad from a local hospital. He had an appt yesterday and the day before I got a text about scheduling his surgery. I asked him about it, googled the number and it was a spam number. I never clicked on the link. I also got a text for a different persons dr appt. I didn't click on that one either, but sent an email to that drs office. They really do make then realistic.

I only wish my email from CVS today was spam. They canceled my order for 8 bags of Ghiardelli Milk Chocolate Fudge Caramel pieces. When I called to find out why, they said the candy was out of stock. Wah! It's not in stock at CVS or any other store near me.

Now I have to wait until mid-November to order from Ghiardelli. It's too expensive to have it shipped until the weather is cooler. Woe is us.

(ooooo chisue I never heard of that candy but it sounds wonderful --- I'll have to haunt my CVS candy aisles...!)

I think, jmm, that there's a difference between 'diminished', which implies it was higher at some point, and 'limited'...

We just got an email from "Amazon." Something about a problem with an order and to click on the link they provided to access our account. I knew right away it was bogus, but I could see it being convincing to some people, no matter their age. I also haven't ordered anything from Amazon in over 8 months.

Oh yes - my sisters who are Prime members order from Amazon at least once a week.

chisue, you if you have a Whole Foods near you, you must try their dark chocolate salted caramels. They are better than any I've ever eaten before no matter the cost. They are fresh, I've tried to hunt down where they come from and its a chocolate company in L.I. NY.

Please, try these. They are hidden in Whole Foods, no one knows they are even there. They are fresh in a clear plastic container with Whole Foods name on it. In my store they are stuck in a corner in the produce department.

They are the best caramels I have ever eaten and I've bought the best. I always loved the Ghiardelli and bought them. But found the Whole Foods ones and thought I'd try them. OMG!

Jane

Amen to the Whole Foods caramels. I found them in a pyramid of chocolates in the deli section.

Yesterday I got an email from one of the state's big electric conglomerates, informing its customers that they had had a data breach. It looked completely legit, email address and website address checked out. Only thing is, they don't operate in my area and I am not one of their customers. I don't think it was suspect, just odd that I got it.

@raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio, wonder how they would have gotten your email address if not their customer?

Exactly jrb451. I marked it as spam and deleted it, just in case. It didn't have any links to click through, not that I would. My electric utility is definitely not one of their subsidiaries..

wonder how they would have gotten your email address if not their customer?

Random character generator using common ISP endings. Like robo calls just go thru every number possible, Doesn't cost them much of anything.

I just went through a deluge of 14 spam calls in the last hour! All from a different number although area code and prefix the same on each, as was the voicemail message and the 'person' delivering it. None rang through because of my phone settings and I just blocked and deleted all of them.

Hey! Thanks for the tips about the Whole Foods chocolate caramels! I 'discovered' the Ghiardelli ones just in time for them to be discontinued by local grocery stores. We are the 'kiss of death' for products -- late to the party, and then *poof* they are gone.

Another new one for me, xfinity, thanking me for my payment of $395 and some odd change.