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

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 call
• Name of the agency the imposter used
• What they tell you, including the amount of money and the payment method they ask for
• Phone 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 caller
• Any other details from the call

Thanks 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 russ.crespolini@patch.com

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.